Dale Steyn has an interesting suggestion for TV umpire's role
There was a huge controversy during the 3rd T20I between Bangladesh and Windies.
Umpiring in cricket has been facing some serious flak of late. From the on-field officials ignoring several no balls in the recent Sri Lanka-England Test series to the extremely low catch of Indian captain Virat Kohli in the Test match in Perth to the controversy over a no ball in a T20I game between Bangladesh and Windies – there have been instances one after another that have brought the ‘law-keepers’ of the game under serious questioning.
In the recent T20I match between Bangladesh and Windies in Mirpur, that the visitors won to take the series 2-1, a serious controversy broke out over a no ball which denied the Caribbeans a crucial wicket. The on-field umpire called a delivery by pacer Oshane Thomas to in-form batsman Liton Das which got his wicket, as an illegal delivery. But TV footage showed that Thomas’ feet was within the limits of law to make the delivery a valid one.
Windies protested but since laws say that a no ball decision can be reviewed only if the on-field umpire makes no call, the batsman got a life. A heated discussion was seen on the boundary between Windies captain Carlos Brathwaite and match referee Jeff Crowe though the Caribbean captain later commended the official.
Let on-field umpires focus on batter’s end
Two days after the controversial game, South African pacer Dale Steyn took to Twitter to come up with a suggestion for the umpires – both on and off the field. He said the third umpire, with all the technology at his/her disposal, could take calls on front foot, bouncer height, etc. and leave things happening at the batsman’s end to the on-field umpires.
During the recent Sri Lanka-England series when a number of front-foot no-balls went unnoticed, it was being said that the on-field umpires were turning lenient to the bowlers’ discipline since there was more technological support available to fall back on.
The suggestion by Steyn also calls for a reduced burden on the on-field umpires and allow them to concentrate more on the acts of the batsmen and fielders and leave the bowlers’ action to the reviewers.
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