BPL 2022: BCB introduce Alternate DRS system to reduce umpiring howlers

The ongoing edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) has come under the scanner for poor umpiring. This isn’t the first time that such a thing has happened in the tournament. Even in the last season, the umpires had given some shocking decisions and the quality of the officials in Bangladesh was also questioned. With no DRS available this season too, the howlers continued.

For the same reason, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has decided to introduce Alternate Decision Review System (ADRS). The board will be hoping for the decisions from the umpires to improve with this system. As far as DRS is concerned, none of the experts at Hawk-Eye – a company that offers DRS services – were ready to travel to the country as there was no certainty around the dates of the tournament.

Meanwhile, according to the reports in The Daily Star, the ADRS has been implemented from Match 9 of the tournament which also marked the beginning of the Chattogram leg. Interestingly, the new DRS system was used as many as three times in the first match itself between Chattogram and Khulna on Friday (January 28).

Non-availability of the DRS impacted the tournament a lot

The non-availability of the DRS became a major issue especially during the match between Dhaka and Sylhet when the umpires made three blunders. If DRS was available, those decision could’ve easily been overturned. BCB umpires committee chairman – Iftekhar Rahman – while speaking to Cricbuzz admitted that the umpiring is tough without DRS and felt that the system should be used from the next season.

“‘It’s a big learning (conducting matches without DRS) for us and we have to be more careful in the coming days,” he said. ”Look worldwide, DRS is helping the umpires reduce their mistakes and they are quite dependent on it. Hopefully, we will make sure that DRS is available in tournaments of this magnitude (BPL),” he said.

With the ADRS, it has been understood that the umpires will depend on the slow motion technology to take decision and it remains to be seen if it helps in reducing the howlers.