Harbhajan Singh slammed the ICC for the umpire call rule in DRS. He said Pakistan lost to South Africa because of ‘bad umpiring’ and ‘bad rules’. The umpire call law of cricket once again came into focus during the World Cup 2023 match between Pakistan and South Africa at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday. First, it was South Africa, who were at the receiving end when Rassie van der Dussen was given out by the third umpire with DRS showing two umpire call out of three. Then, Pakistan suffered a heartbreak as Tabraiz Shamsi survived a close LBW shout due to the not-out decision from the on-field umpire. This prompted former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh to launch a stringent criticism of the umpire call laws. Harbhajan said Pakistan lost the match by 1 run because of bad umpiring and that ICC should change the umpire call rule.

Bad umpiring and bad rules cost Pakistan this game.. @ICC should change this rule. If the ball is hitting the stump that’s out whether umpire gave out or not out doesn’t matter. otherwise what is the use of technology?  Harbhajan tweeted after Keshav Maharaj hit a boundary to seal a thrilling win for South Africa. The result meant South Africa jumped to the top of the table on net run rate while Pakistan slumped to the sixth spot. Since DRS became a mandatory feature in all ICC events, it was made clear that if the ball-tracking technology projects that the ball would have gone on to clip the stumps instead of hitting it, the verdict will be given as per the on-field umpire  call. This was done to keep a margin for error in ball tracking. This means if DRS can t tell with certainty that more than 50% of the ball was pitching in line, impacting the pads or hitting the stumps, then the on-field umpire call would take precedence.

If the on-field umpire rules it not out then it will stay not out even if the ball--tracking shows it would have gone on to clip the stumps. It will be out if the on-field decision says so. Umpire Paul Reiffel gave van der Dussen out in the 19th over of South Africa  chase. He opted for a review. Ball tracking showed umpirecall on two parameters - the impact and the hitting. But because he was given out on the field, the third umpire was not allowed to change it. The on-field umpire call would have been changed only if the ball-tracking had shown it had hit Dussen outside the line of the stumps or was completely missing the stumps. Neither was true so Dussen was given the marching orders.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)