Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh recently expressed his discontent with the umpire’s judgment in certain DRS calls being pronounced final.
Harbhajan Singh mentioned how South African Tabraiz Shamsi escaped a near LBW call. The hitter was jammed on the pads and the on-field umpire called him out. While Pakistan requested a review, the verdict was upheld according to the umpire’s call rule.
He contended that a hitter should be called out even if the ball very faintly touches the stumps. Harbhajan Singh explained on his YouTube channel:
“Pakistan did everything right, but the umpires committed a blunder. If the umpire’s call is going to be the final call, then what’s the need to use technology? Rassie van der Dussen was given out by the umpire because the ball was clipping the stumps. Then, when Tabraiz Shamsi was batting, the ball was still clipping the stumps, but the umpire gave it as not out.”
“If one ball is hitting the stumps, then you are out, and when another ball is hitting the stumps, you are not out,” he added. “What is this drama? Who has made such a rule? Even if you play gully cricket, you are out if the ball hits the stumps.
“Even as per the laws, if the ball touches the stumps, you are out. It doesn’t matter how much it has touched the stumps.”
Harbhajan Singh
It’s important noting that Pakistan just needed one wicket to win when Shamsi survived the LBW decision. The Men in Green were eventually defeated by a one-wicket defeat.
Harbhajan Singh went on to suggest that some rules should be modified. He believes that if a ball hitting the stumps doesn’t result in an ‘out’ due to the referee’s decision, then the same consideration should be given when a ball only grazes a batter’s edge and is caught by the keeper. He explained further:
“This is nonsense. I don’t understand the kind of umpiring that has been happening. This is a World Cup, not some gully cricket tournament. In fact, things are better than this in gully cricket.””If this is the rule, then if the ball has taken the edge of the bat, a batter should not be given out caught if the umpire has adjudged it not out,” Harbhajan continued.
“The ball won’t go into the keeper’s hands after hitting the middle of the bat. I will go there because of an edge, right? What are these rules?”
Harbhajan Singh
Following numerous dubious judgments, the umpiring in the current 2023 World Cup has come under scrutiny. Rassie van der Dussen was controversially sent off in the same Pakistan-South Africa match.
Initially, ball tracking indicated that the ball was missing the stumps. However, on the subsequent replay, it was changed to the umpire’s call.
“Bad umpiring and bad rules cost Pakistan this game” – Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh has requested that the International Cricket Council (ICC) modify the regulation regarding the umpire’s decision in DRS. He proposed that a judgment be made based on technology following a review, regardless of whether the on-field official gave it out or not.
He post on the microblogging platform X:
Harbhajan expressed his thoughts that the International Cricket Council should either fully rely on technology or solely on the umpire’s decision. He believed that mixing the two while making a decision might not be the appropriate approach.
Babar Azam and colleagues suffered their fourth straight defeat in the championship tournament. They are presently sixth in the points table with two victories from six games.