Not just an ADRS controversy

The absence of DRS and the presence of Alternate Decision Review System (ADRS) has already come under the spotlight in this BPL season. Reactions from Soumya Sarkar and Anamul Haque regarding ADRS had already come under scrutiny.

Then Comilla Victorians' Jaker Ali, in the game against Fortune Barishal on Saturday, was left perplexed when he was given out by on-field umpire Morshed Ali Khan and, upon review, TV umpire Tanvir Ahmed upheld the decision even as the majority of the ball had pitched outside the 'Pitching Zone'.

On the surface, the umpire looked at fault but a deeper look reveals how the match officials were the ones least at fault and perhaps it was another case of lack of collective professionalism – both from BPL governing council and the franchises.

The umpires came under fire until the BCB stated that the umpire was acting in accordance with the playing conditions. The pitching zone was made available to the TV umpire with stump-to-stump pitch map.

"In Appendix D1 of the tournament's Match Playing Conditions, it is stated that a ball will be considered to have pitched 'In-Line' in the ADRS if 'Any part of the ball was inside the Pitching Zone'."

The BCB defended the umpire and provided an image of where the ball had pitched in its media release. The subsequent criticism surrounding the decision was mostly on how BPL governing council changed the laws of the game. But the law never dictated how much of the ball would have to be pitching in line to enable a leg-before decision in favour of the bowler. As stated by MCC, pertaining to law 36, a batter can be given out if the ball 'pitches in line between wicket and wicket or on the off side of the striker's wicket.'

While 'any part of the ball' sounds like something new, it was learnt that the same playing condition rule was also present in last year's BPL. While the ball was in fact pitching just in line with leg-stump, the TV umpire had to stick to the ADRS playing conditions.

Last year, the ADRS was pushed from the franchises' side and there was controversy too. This time, the playing conditions had been handed and queries were welcome before the start of the tournament, but it was not subject to scrutiny until seen in action. It begs the question as to how professional the franchises had been in their attempt to understand the whole thing.

In the modern game, DRS puts more accountability to decision making, but without that available data of how much of the ball is outside the line of stumps in DRS's absence, any system brought in fails to provide same data. It invariably puts more stress on TV umpires who do not have snickometre or a ball-tracking system with enough statistical data.

While it is a logistical failure to have DRS setup available but not the required manpower to run it, from the franchise and their technical setup, more needs to be done to address such issues for the coming years when a proper review system -- which in itself is subject to change -- is absent.