Doesn't Matter How Much Of The Ball Hits The Stumps - Virat Kohli Asks For 'Basic Cricket Sense' Regarding Umpire's Call

India captain Virat Kohli has demanded absoluteness regarding the ‘Umpire’s Call’ of the Decision Review System (DRS) which has left everyone scratching their hairs.

Of late, the Umpire’s Call has been under scrutiny – with some even asking for it to be scrapped altogether – as a batsman can be out and not out at the same time, massively depending on the decision of the on-field umpire.

Even though the DRS was instigated more than a decade ago – with some changes over the years, in particular to the umpire’s call – it still remains an ill-defined aspect of the game creating huge uncertainties.

But Virat Kohli is clear about what he thinks should happen: if the ball hits the stumps, irrespective of what percentage of it is clipping, the batter should be deemed out. On the eve of the ODI series against England, the skipper says that ‘basic cricket sense’ should prevail and there have to be no doubts regarding the umpire’s call.

“Umpire’s call is creating a lot of confusion. If the ball is clipping the stumps, the bails are going to fall. From a basic cricket sense, there should be no doubts about that. It doesn’t matter how much of the ball hits the stumps,” Virat Kohli said in the press conference.

Virat Kohli speaks on the ‘Soft Signal’

In the same press conference, the 32-year-old expressed his frustration with the ‘soft signal’ as well. In the 4th T20I, Suryakumar Yadav was given out caught in the deep by the third umpire when he was unable to find any ‘conclusive evidence’ to overturn the on-field umpire’s soft signal of ‘out’.

While on replays it seemed that Dawid Malan, the fielder who caught Yadav, have grounded the ball but still gave the impression that he had taken it cleanly promoting the on-field umpire to give his soft signal as in England’s favour.

Virat Kohli blasts the England fielder and invoked the ‘Spirit of Cricket’. He says that the media would have rained down had any Indian fielder did the same.

“One more factor to be considered is how the fielding side responds to a dismissal defines the soft signal. You’ve then got to question spirit of cricket. If things like that happened to Indian team overseas, then you talk about spirit of cricket,” the skipper added.

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