India will not accept umpire review system, says BCCI

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – The Indian cricket board has  ruled out using the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) and  also rejected an offer to travel to Australia and watch its  Ashes application.
The clamour to use the technology aimed at reducing umpiring  errors has been growing but India have opposed UDRS as they are  adamant the ball-tracking tool is not accurate enough.
UDRS was not used in India’s recent series against  Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and Board of Control for  Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary N Srinivasan said there was no  real chance of the world’s richest cricket body changing its  stance.
“We don’t accept this technology. We are not going to use it  in any bilateral series,” Srinivasan told Reuters over the  phone.
Cricket South Africa could not convince BCCI to use UDRS in  the ongoing series and an annoyed Proteas captain Graeme Smith  said the International Cricket Council (ICC) should make it  mandatory.
“The ICC needs to take responsibility and lead the way when  it comes to the review system,” Smith said after losing the  Durban test against India where a couple of dubious decisions  hurt his team.
“They can’t just let the boards decide and negotiate it.  Using the UDRS once every seven series is not going to help  anybody.”
Australia’s stand-in captain Michael Clarke shared Smith’s  view on uniformity.
“I’d like it to be 100 percent right but not many things in  the world are,” Clarke said in Sydney.
“I think it should be 100 percent used or not used at all.”
Clarke’s words followed the controversial reprieve England  batsman Ian Bell got in the fifth Ashes test thanks to UDRS.
Batting on 67, Bell was adjudged caught behind but the  decision was overturned after the batsman sought a review.  However, the snickometer subsequently suggested an edge and Bell  went on to score a century that further consolidated England’s  position in the match.
The BCCI is so convinced of the technology’s limitations  that they turned down an offer to travel to Australia where UDRS  made its Ashes debut.
“Yes, they were supposed to take us to see its use in the  Ashes series but I did not go. We have made our presentation to  the ICC, saying we are just not convinced about the technology,”  Srinivasan said.
Asked if cost was the discouraging factor, he said, “That’s  another issue but we have got serious doubts about its  accuracy.”
However, the UDRS will be used in this year’s World Cup,  jointly hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh from Feb 19.
“Well, World Cup is an ICC event and if ICC decided to use  it, they obviously can,” said Srinivasan, also the BCCI  president-elect.