PCB Chairman orders inquiry over unavailability of DRS in Pak-NZ series

Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) newly-appointed chairman Ramiz Raja Friday has said that those people responsible for the non-availability of the Decision Review System (DRS) in the ongoing Pakistan-New Zealand ODI series will have to face the consequences and has meanwhile, directed the board’s authorities to launch an inquiry into the matter.

After the unavailability of the DRS, both the PCB and New Zealand Cricket (NZC) decided to change the status of the current ODI series and now it will no longer be part of the ICC Cricket World Cup Super League fixtures.

The series will now be only counted as a bilateral series between the two nations.

“Not arranging the DRS system for the [New Zealand] series is negligence. Action against those found responsible will be taken without discrimination,” Raja sai.d

Earlier, the PCB chairman was disappointed as the board failed to sign the DRS system for the home series against New Zealand due to which the board will also face financial loss.

As per reports, the series was deprived of the DRS as the BCCI had bought the DRS operation team for the remainder of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 after paying them four times more than what the PCB had offered.

The series which kicked-off on Friday (September 17), will clash with the second leg of the IPL 2021 season, which will begin from September 19.

As per reports, the BCCI has hired three DRS crews to work on the IPL.

Although the PCB had tried its best to arrange for a DRS system however, it was impossible for them to do so at the eleventh hour.

Meanwhile, the PCB is also trying to arrange for the DRS in their next home series against England and if reports are to be believed, it has been successful in arraging the system.

The England cricket team is scheduled to tour Pakistan for two T20Is in October, just before the T20 World cup.

Significantly, the DRS has been put in place by the ICC since November 2009 in Test matches before being made mandatory in the T20Is from 2017.

The ICC has also made it compulsory at least in Men’s games to have DRS in place. In the limited-overs format, each team gets two chances to challenge the decision made by the on-field umpire.

Significantly, DRS is a technology-based process for assisting match officials with their decision-making.

With DRS in place, on-field umpires may consult with the third umpire for a review and players may request that the third umpire consider a decision of the on-field umpires (a Player Review) during a match.

News Desk

Read Previous

LaLiga and VRM join forces to bring exclusive Spanish football experiences to China

Read Next

Pak-NZ first ODI called-off after three Kiwi players test positive for Covid-19