India could revisit DRS stance

India could give up on their demand of 100% accuracy if their reservations against umpire's-call decisions in lbws are addressed. There is a growing feeling among the team that many of the marginal calls tend to go against them, which cannot be overturned by DRS as it stands today. It is a big departure from the days when India were happy with the uncertainty of human error.

"Okay, we can still get our heads around its not being 100%," a source in the team told ESPNcricinfo, "but all the marginal calls are going against us. The umpire's call is one of our major objections with the system."

At the press conference later in the day, MS Dhoni echoed the view.

There has been increasing pressure on India to better articulate their stance against the DRS, with a few howlers going against them, howlers that wouldn't have needed any sophisticated technology to be overruled. In Adelaide, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane and Wriddhmian Saha fell to catches that basic replays would have overruled. Cheteshwar Pujara and R Ashwin had to deal with wrong calls in Brisbane, calls that simple slow-motion replays would have corrected.

However, it was the marginal decisions that stuck with Dhoni too; he feels the DRS is being used more to "justify" the umpire's decisions than to arrive at the right calls.

"It is a very interesting question, but what is more important is that there are a lot of 50-50 decisions that are not going in our favour," he said, when asked if there was any possibility of India revising their position, given the circumstances. "We are at the receiving end more often than not. And what happens in DRS, even when the DRS is around, those decisions won't go in our favour.

"Because if the umpire has given out, you take DRS, it is still out, because DRS is often used to justify the decision given by the umpire. What is important is to use DRS to give the right decision irrespective of whether the umpire has given it out or not out. There are a lot of ways to use the DRS, but this is something that needs to be put in a specific way. That it doesn't really matter if the umpire has given out or not out, if the ball hits the stumps [in projection] it is out; if half the ball hits the stumps you are out."

Dhoni did empathise with the umpires, but wasn't impressed with their consistency. Asked if he was happy with the umpiring in this game, Dhoni said: "It can certainly improve but also it is very tough for those two individuals. Not to forget it has been very hot. They stand there for five days. We come back. Apart from lunch and tea they don't get any break. When we bat they are still on the field. When Australia bat they are still on the field.

"It is tough on them, but I always try to tell them, 'Try to be consistent through the Test.' There have been quite a few 50-50 calls that we are on the receiving end of. Irrespective of whether there is DRS or not, we will be on the receiving end according to the decision given by the umpire."