England vs India 2021: No-Ball Call Has To Come From The On-Field Umpire- Sunil Gavaskar

Former Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar believes that the front-foot no-ball call should come from the on-field umpire. He made the point during the lunch session on Day 2 of the Oval Test between England and India.

The ICC had made the job of the on-field umpire easy by putting the third umpire in charge of the crease at the bowler’s end. He had to watch every ball on TV cameras and let the umpire on the ground know if there was a particular delivery that had to be ruled as a no-ball.

This was a very effective decision, as the possibility of an umpire failing to call a no-ball or making a wrong call for that matter was eliminated. However, this puts the batsman at a disadvantage as per Sunil Gavaskar.

“Some changes that have come up are hard to understand. The no-ball call has to come from the on-field umpire. This is a little unfair on batsmen; (At least) against the spinners, a batsman has some time to change shot (should they become aware of the no-ball early),” he said.

“The umpire should be confident about his decision” – Sunil Gavaskar

The legendary Indian cricketer continued on the matter by claiming that the umpires should be confident of making the right decisions even under pressure. Previously, if a no-ball call was made on the field, the batsman could have decided to play an aggressive stroke.

Now, he isn’t privy to the information until and unless the third umpire communicates to his colleague that an illegal delivery was bowled. There is a punishment for bowling no-balls in the white-ball formats but not in a traditional Test match.

“They (umpire) should be confident ‘never mind I will give the decision. Even if I am wrong, the TV umpire can tell me that my decision is not right’,” Gavaskar asserted.

The comments were made by the 72-year-old when Ravindra Jadeja bowled a no-ball to Jonny Bairstow during Day 2. England and India are locked in a battle at the Oval, with both teams trying their best to come out on top.

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