Sachin Tendulkar opposes the decision-review system and after his fortunate innings of 81 against Australia on Sunday, it’s not hard to see why.
Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar is no stranger to threatening a walk-off and India’s board uses the same tactic to keep technology at bay.
India said at a recent ICC meeting that if a proposal from England was supported by other Test-playing nations to allow the host country to impose the DRS on a bi-lateral series, India would refuse to play.
It was Gavaskar who infamously wrote in a newspaper column that South African ICC match referee Mike Procter was making a decision on a racial basis regarding the “Monkeygate” Test of 2008.
Gavaskar, the then-chairman of the ICC cricket committee, accused Procter of “taking the ‘white man’s’ word against that of the ‘brown man'” in the case of India’s Harbhajan Singh.
Harbhajan was eventually fined for abusing Australia’s Andrew Symonds, after initially being suspended for three matches for racial abuse.
Gavaskar led his batting partner Chetan Chauhan off the field in protest during the 1981 Melbourne Test when given out lbw. DRS would have helped there, Sunny.
Gavaskar can hardly complain about South Africa’s involvement in this Chennai Test after South African umpire Marais Erasmus gave Tendulkar not out on 37 on Saturday when a DRS challenge by Australia would have shown the batsman was out.
Michael Clarke, who made 130 in Australia’s first innings, had his own slice of luck on 39 when an appeal for a bat-pad catch was not upheld.
The all-powerful Tendulkar, the 39-year-old Mumbai Master and leading runscorer in Test history, has led India’s opposition to DRS.
When he was bowled by spinner Nathan Lyon on Sunday, the umpire couldn’t get that one wrong.
Perhaps if he was a specialist bowler Tendulkar would have a different view on the DRS.
Like offspinner Harbhajan, who argued at length with Sri Lankan umpire Kumar Dharmasena after having an lbw appeal turned down in the 123rd over of Australia’s first innings, waving his arms around in fury.
But then again, it is a batsman’s game.
