MS Dhoni says Umpires should be consistent and give their decisions boldly

The lack of DRS went in India’s favour in the first Test as two Australia batsmen debutant Ed Cowan (68) and Mike Hussey (naught) were victimized by controversial decisions in a similar fashion.

Hussey fell for a first-ball duck off paceman Zaheer Khan’s bouncer though the replays indicated that Khan’s shorted-delivery had clearly come off batsman’s sleeve while in Cowan’s dismissal, Hot Spot technology showed no contact between bat and ball.

Since then several Australian players including Cowan himself, former skipper Ricky Ponting and his successor have lashed out BCCI for declining DRS and asked for uniformity in the technology.

I was a big fan of Hot Spot before England tour: Dhoni

However, during India’s disastrous tour of England this summer, in which India agreed to the usage of modified DRS, their veteran batsman Rahul Dravid thrice found himself on the wrong end of litigious video replays. Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar also once became the victim of technology in the same series.

“I was a big fan of Hot Spot before the England tour. I am not so sure now. Same with snickometer. I would rather show faith and rely on umpires who have been doing the job all these years. If umpires are consistent, I don’t mind,” Dhoni said on Thursday.

Owning up “minor” errors in DRS after the extreme pressure from BCCI, the International Cricket Council had ended the mandatory use of technology in bilateral series in September and revived it to May’s position, according to which the technology could only be use in case of mutual acceptance of two boards.

Umpires should give their decisions boldly: Dhoni

Dhoni said he would respect the decision of the umpires.

“They don’t need to go into their shell after giving a wrong decision. They should be consistent and give their decisions boldly. At the same time, we must understand that they are doing a tough job,” added Dhoni.