Picture Credit: X
On Saturday, September 7, Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took to his official X account to back the usage of the Decision Review System (DRS) in domestic cricket, wanting the batters to adapt to it. The 37-year-old gave an example from the Duleep Trophy clash between India C and India D at the Rural Development Trust Stadium in Anantapur, where Ricky Bhui was given out LBW on DRS after failing to get his bat in line of the ball from Manav Suthar.
Notably, the dismissal happened on day two of the Duleep Trophy clash when India D were in the midst of setting a target for India C after trailing them by just four runs in the first innings. During the second innings of India D, Ricky Bhui was well set on 44 runs off 90 balls with five fours to his name before Manav Suthar’s off spin delivery struck him just below the knee roll, while his bat was hidden behind the left pad.
DRS for domestic cricket is not just for the right decisions to be made: Ravichandran Ashwin
The on-field umpire, KN Ananthapadmanabhan, ruled that Ricky Bhui was not out before India C captain Ruturaj Gaikwad took a DRS, which showcased that the batter was in front of the stumps. With that, the on-field umpire had to reverse his decision to send Ricky Bhui back into the pavilion, and Ravichandran Ashwin was quite happy about how the situation turned out.
In his latest post on X, the Tamil Nadu-born cricketer, stated that DRS will not only allow the right decisions to be made in Indian domestic cricket, but it will also allow the batters in the country to improve their techniques around it. He wrote, “DRS for domestic cricket is not just for the right decisions to be made. Ricky Bhuvi’s dismissal last evening against Manav Suthar is a classic case of a batter who will get away with this technique 10/10 times in FC cricket. This was not a faulty technique pre DRS but now it is.”
Ravichandran Ashwin also alluded to how the gulf between domestic and international cricket could be breached to an extent with the usage of DRS in Indian domestic cricket. “Back in the day batters were given not out just because they managed to get on the front foot. Now, keeping your bat behind the pad can be fatal, imagine someone making the climb to international cricket without getting this experience Ricky got yesterday. He could very well take an entire test series to understand what he needs to work on and his career could well be over. This is a fab experience for more than just one reason @BCCI,” he added.
