Umpire’s call right now is creating a lot of confusion: Virat Kohli

There has been an intense debate regarding the use of umpire’s call in the Decision Review System (DRS) especially while reviewing the LBW dismissals. According to the current rule, at least 50 percent of the ball should be hitting at least one of the three stumps for the batsman to be adjudged LBW on review in case an umpire’s call has been challenged.

Meanwhile, if the ball is just grazing the stump then the umpire’s call comes to play as  third-umpires give their decision in accordance with the on-field umpires. Many veteran cricket analysts and former cricketers have opposed the umpire call saying that it is bizarre. Indian skipper Virat Kohli is the new addition to the list as he asserted that the umpire’s call is creating a lot of confusion and one should expect the ball to hit more than 50 percent into the stumps to consider yourself bowled.

“I played for a long time when there was no DRS. Right. If the umpire made a decision, whether the batsman liked it or not, it stayed like that. Vice versa the umpire gave it not out and it was out, it stayed like that, whether it was marginal or not,” said Kohli ahead of the first ODI of a three-match series against England here on Tuesday.

“According to me, umpire’s call right now is creating a lot of confusion. When you get bowled as a batsman, you don’t expect the ball to hit more than 50 percent into the stumps to consider yourself bowled. So from basic cricket common-sense, I don’t think that there should be any debate on that. If the ball is clipping the stumps, that should be out whether you like it or not, you lose the review,” he added.

You don’t want some grey area factors in the game: Virat Kohli

Further in the interaction, Virat Kohli also opened up on the soft signal given by the on-field umpires to the third umpire. Suryakumar Yadav’s dismissal in the fourth T20I had created a lot of controversies as the third-umpire gave his decision on the basis of the soft signal. Virat believes that one should have clarity on such things as they can make a big difference in the tournaments when a lot is at stake.

“…and you know the one more factor that needs to be considered is that you know, how the fielding team responds to a dismissal that is claimed is also somewhere, defining soft signals as well. You have to question what the spirit of the game is and what those guidelines are, because if things like that happened with the Indian cricket team overseas, then you are talking about a totally different conversation of the spirit of the game.

“…there’s a lot at stake in the future with the big tournaments, and you don’t want some grey area factors in the game, which leaves you with no clarity to be the defining factors of those big tournaments,” Virat Kohli concluded