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Updated March 25th, 2021 at 10:03 IST

Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid likely to go against Virat Kohli in MASSIVE cricketing decision

The Virat Kohli vs Anil Kumble saga might have been bigger back in 2017, but it is set to be rekindled in a way after the Indian captain's latest comments.

Reported by: Jatin Malu
Anil Kumble
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The Decision Review System (DRS) was introduced to minimize the margin of error in decision making by the umpire. However, it has also led to a lot of surprise among the viewers over the debatable umpire’s call. The ongoing England's tour of India has sparked the umpire's call debate once again as there have been a number of instances when the debatable law has stirred massive controversies.

ICC committee bats for continuation of controversial umpire's call

In fact, Indian skipper Virat Kohli recently had said that the umpire's call is creating a lot of confusion at the moment and the lawmakers need to look at it so that it does not leave a grey area when a big tournament is being played. The Indian skipper also stated that from basic cricket common sense there should not be debates over how much of the ball was hitting or clipping the stumps and a simpler approach of it either being out or not out needed to be put in place.

However, despite the outcry over the controversial concept, the Anil Kumble-led ICC Cricket Committee has downplayed Kohli's views and recommended that the umpire's call element of the DRS should stay. The suggestion will be proposed at ICC's chief executive committee meeting, which is scheduled for a virtual meet in the coming week.

According to an ESPNCricinfo report, during ICC's last meeting that was held earlier this month, the committee's members felt that the concept of the umpire's call and how it operated needed to be explained better to all stakeholders in the game, including players and fans. The ICC committee consisting of former cricketers Kumble, Andrew Strauss, Rahul Dravid, Mahela Jayawardene, Shaun Pollock), match referee Ranjan Madugalle, umpire Richard Illingworth and Mickey Arthur after some debate decided the umpire's call had to stay in the game mainly because it was acknowledged that ball-tracking technology was not going to be 100% correct. They also looked at recent examples where ball-tracking technology or how it was operated had made blunders. Perhaps, Rahul Dravid's say in the matter could also highly influence ICC's decision.

The ICC committee also referred to the opinions of MCC members including Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne among other notable members who discussed the much-debated umpire's call issue last month during a conference meeting. Some members of the MCC committee felt that the umpire’s call was confusing to the watching public, particularly when the same ball could either be Out or Not out depending on the on-field umpire’s original decision.

They also felt it would be simpler if the original decision was disregarded on review and that there was a simple out or Not out, with no Umpire’s Call. On the other hand, other members argued that Umpire’s Call helps to retain a human element in the decision-making process, and it also takes into account the benefit of the doubt that has existed in umpires’ decisions for many years.

The discussion over the controversial umpire's calls is understandable after the recent four-match India vs England Test series. During the India vs England Test series, out of the 65 reviews by both teams, 53 were struck down and out of the 53, 37 were wrongly reviewed and 16 were umpire's calls. Meanwhile, the contradiction of Kohli's and Kumble's views have once again raised some eyebrows.

Virat Kohli vs Anil Kumble rift in the past

During his tenure as the head coach of the Indian men's senior cricket team from 2016-2017, it was speculated that Anil Kumble and captain Virat Kohli did not see eye-to-eye on many instances. Kumble had claimed that Virat Kohli was not too pleased with his coaching style. If Virat Kohli vs Anil Kumble rumours are to be believed, then the two cricketers were involved in a difference of opinion prior to the Champions Trophy final against arch-rivals Pakistan regarding what had to be done after winning the toss.

Pakistan had outplayed India in that contest to win their maiden ICC Champions Trophy title. Notably, Kumble's tenure as India's head coach hardly lasted only a year as he stepped down from the position after the ICC Champions Trophy 2017. Although the duo had ended their differences after Kohli invited Kumble for his wedding a few years ago, it seems that the Indian captain's annoyance with the bowling legend has not ended entirely.

In fact, after India were defeated in the first Test against England, Kohli had also taken a shot at the International Cricket Council (ICC) for suddenly changing the rules to qualify for the ICC World Test Championship final, during the post-match press conference. For the unversed, during the COVID-19 enforced lockdown last year, the ICC Cricket Committee led by former India captain Anil Kumble had decided that the ICC World Test Championship standings would be determined by the percentage of points (PCT) earned by teams. Speaking about the new rules to determine ICC World Test Championship standings, an annoyed Kohli said that nothing is in the team's control if rules suddenly change during the lockdown. India are set to take on New Zealand in the ICC World Test Championship final in Southampton in June.

SOURCE: BCCI.TV/ ICC TWITTER

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Published March 25th, 2021 at 10:03 IST

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