IPL 2018: BCCI gives thumbs-up to DRS for the upcoming edition of tournament

After playing the hard ball against the Decision Review System (DRS) for years, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has given a go-ahead for the referral system to be introduced in the upcoming edition Indian Premier League (IPL).

File image of Virat Kohli making use of Decision Review System. AP

According to a report in the Indian Express, the board is now ready to include DRS in the 11th edition of the cash-rich league. With the league beginning a new start after completing a successful decade. The upcoming season will be the first occasion where the system will be put to use.

With Virat Kohli having no objection to the use of technology, it was only before the England's tour of India towards the end of 2016 when the Board relaxed its stance on DRS.

A BCCI official was quoted saying in the report, “The BCCI was keen to have DRS on board since quite some time but it was only this year we felt we should go ahead with it for the IPL. We have the best of all other systems in place, so why not DRS? Anyway we have been using it for India’s international matches for over a year and a half now."

In December 2017, the Indian cricket board had organised a workshop for domestic umpires regarding understanding the nuances of the review system. ICC umpires coach Dennis Burns and former Australia cricketer-turned-umpire Paul Reiffel addressed the 12 domestic umpires, who participated in the session.

"Indian domestic cricket doesn’t use the DRS system till date. As local umpires are being hired for the IPL, the board had called us to be briefed about the system. We were told that the board will be using DRS in IPL and they wanted us to get used to the technology," said one of the domestic umpires who attended the session.

The IPL is in line to become the second major T20 league to make use of DRS after the Pakistan Super League.

Published Date: Feb 28, 2018 02:03 PM | Updated Date: Feb 28, 2018 02:18 PM