In the space of four overs during the first Australian innings of the Indore Test, India wasted two DRS calls. On both the occasions, Ravindra Jadeja was the bowler and he convinced his captain Rohit Sharma to review the decisions. On both occasions, the ball kept a tad low, spun sharply and flirted around the leg-stump mark. A 50-50 call to review on any surface but a strict no on the Indore strip which offered vicious turn.
Jadeja and India got it wrong both times and the hosts lost two crucial reviews by the tenth over of Australian innings. There was a dull period as far as reviews were concerned and India took the next one only in the 45th over. No prize for guessing the bowler, no prize for guessing that the ball again kept low and was sliding down the leg-side.
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It was a combination of desperation, excitement and eagerness of Jadeja which contributed to the DRS debacle in Indore. India hadn’t scored runs with the bat and wanted to make things happen with the ball. In the process, they burnt out their crucial reviews early in the contest and seemed hesitant to later refer the close calls too. Case in point: Marnus Labuschagne loud shout for LBW turned down by the umpire in the 11th over but with only one review left, Rohit didn’t refer and the replays suggested it would have clipped the stumps.
DRS has been tricky
To be fair to everyone, it hasn’t been an easy series to play the DRS card right. Degree of turn has varied from Nagpur to Delhi to Indore and there has been variable bounce with the odd one not rising above the ankle. For India, it’s just not the behaviour of the pitch but theatrics of Jadeja and inexperience of wicketkeeper KS Bharat that has contributed towards poor DRS outings.
“Especially Jaddu yaar. Every ball he thinks it’s out. I understand, they’re quite animated, it’s just the passion of the game, but that’s where my role comes in, to say bhai, relax a little, it’s okay if it’s at least ending up somewhere near the stumps, but this isn’t even hitting the stumps, and some balls were even pitching outside [leg stump], so that was a silly mistake that we made but we hope to correct that in this game and we’ll have a small chat regarding this as well, and hopefully we can get it right in this game," said Rohit on “animated" Jadeja.
Of the four reviews they took in the first innings of Indore Test, only one was successful. The only DRS they took in the second innings returned unsuccessful. Rohit-led unit has taken a total of 12 reviews in the series and have had success in only 4 of those. 58% of their reviews have been unsuccessful ones.
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‘Bharat is new to DRS’
A wicketkeeper has the best seat in the house to take the DRS call but Bharat’s inexperience has not helped India’s cause much. Rohit, however, put his weight behind the stumper and said he will get better with time since “DRS is something very new" for the right-hander.
“Yes, we accept that we didn’t make the right calls in the last game, but Bharat obviously is new to DRS. He’s not kept wickets for India, so DRS is something very new. Ranji Trophy doesn’t have DRS, and India A and all of that doesn’t have DRS, so it’s something new for him as well. So we’ve just got to give him some time and make him understand what it is and all that," said Rohit.
Not just India, Australia have taken some poor DRS calls in the series so far and their unsuccessful percentage is 50%. Eight out of the 16 reviews they have taken in the series have been unsuccessful and they have found success with only six. Two of them remained on umpire’s call.
The two giant replay screens at the very gigantic Narendra Modi Stadium will be flashing the DRS replays March 9 onwards but most in the stands and watching from back home will be keeping an eye on the very animated Jadeja during the appeals. Rohit, having learnt his DRS lesson in Indore, will certainly not fall for the enthusiasm shown by the bowlers.
Stats Inputs From Bansal Shah
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