No UDRS for India-South Africa Test series

The Test series between India and South Africa will not see the use of the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS). The decision was taken by Cricket South Africa after the Indian cricket board (BCCI) continued to express its reluctance to use the system.

CSA chief, Gerald Majola said, “We will definitely not be using it. India are not keen to use it.”

India has always been a reluctant party to the UDRS ever since its inception. The first ever series that had seen the use of UDRS was the series between India and Sri Lanka in 2008 which saw many decisions going against the Indians. Ever since that series,
the Indians have never used the UDRS in series involving them.

There was disappointment in the South African camp at the decision. However, the South African coach Corrie van Zyl, tried to put a lid on the matter by saying that the decision was on expected lines as they knew India’s stance on the issue.

He said, “We are not going to use it and thats the end of it. I like UDRS and it does eradicate a lot of decisions that are wrong, which can only be good for the game.”

The International Cricket Council rules stipulate that both the teams playing in the series needed to agree to the use of the UDRS to be able to use the system.

Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain, had said in October that the UDRS needed to be implemented consistently and that technology was the way forward in cricket. “I think if the UDRS is going to be successful it needs to be implemented properly by the ICC
and not on a 50-50 basis like we have seen so far,” he had said. “It must be used all of the time and not for selective series’ like we see now.”

It is very evident that the South Africans have been huge supporters of the UDRS while the Indian players have whole-heartedly opposed it. Captain Graeme Smith had said that the syste was necessary to pull out the bad decisions, while AB de Villiers had said,
“I’d love to see the referral system used. It’s necessary to get some of the really poor decisions out of the game. It frustrates everyone.”

However, the big-name Indian players like MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar have often said that the technology needed to be fool-proof for them to use it.