UDRS is a joke in its present form: Latif

Pakistan’s former captain Rashid Latif says he shares Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s concerns about the accuracy of the Umpires Decision Review System (UDRS) as the innovation is nothing but a “joke” in its present form.

“The manner in which the system has been applied in the World Cup and the way decisions of the umpires have been reversed or upheld because of it indicate it is nothing but a joke,” Latif said.

Latif said the system was simply not serving its purpose in its present form specially without the hotspot technology.

“Every system requires its entire components in order, but here a major component of the system (hot-spot) is missing. Also, the hawk-eye does not consider the nature of the wicket while showing the trajectory of the ball”, the former Pakistan captain said.

He gave the example of the India and Ireland match on Sunday in Bangalore.

“In the India-Ireland match an Irish batsman (Cusack) was given LBW after a review. Earlier the umpire correctly turned down the appeal because the batsman was well down the track -- more than 2.5 metres. To me it was a clear-cut decision, but the hawk-eye suggested otherwise. If the wicket was of the Perth then it would be a mind-boggling decision,” Latif noted.

He pointed out that it was very difficult for the technology to take into account the nature and bounce of pitches as they were all different in different countries and in varying climate.

India has offered the sole opposition to the UDRS system until now with the International Cricket Council saying majority of the other Test-playing nations had supported the innovation after looking at the results of the experiments carried out in last two years.

Latif said if the system is to be used effectively, the ICC should first make sure the broadcasters and concerned boards had all the components required to make it a success.

“In the World Cup the technology they are using for the UDRS is lacking because it is difficult to make a judgement on basis of replays available to us,” Latif noted.