Ranji Trophy 2019-20 Semi-final, And Final Will Have A 'Limited' DRS

For the first time in the history of Ranji Trophy, the competition will have Decision Review System (DRS) in the semifinal and the final round, albeit in a ‘limited’ capacity. The upcoming rounds of Ranji Trophy will begin from Saturday, with each team having four reviews per innings.

Moreover, about the limited capacity of DRS, the tools that will be used in Ranji Trophy 2019-20 are a virtual pitch map for lbw decisions and slow-motion cameras. However, other technologies such as HawkEye, Snickometer, or UltraEdge.

During the course of a long domestic season, only a handful matches can be telecasted due to lack of broadcast facilities at certain venues, which is why implementing other technologies midway through the season is a bit of challenge in itself.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI’s) GM for cricket operations Saba Karim further touched upon this topic in her interview.

Ranji Trophy to have ‘Limited’ DRS in Semifinal and Final for the first time in history:

Saba in her interview with ESPN Cricinfo revealed that the kind of uniformity they looking to provide teams could only have been possible from the start of the season.

Thus, the upcoming stages of the Ranji Trophy 2019-20 will only have a couple of tools rather than the full package.

“We wanted to bring in uniformity so we can offer the same to all the teams, and that we could accomplish only for the semi-finals.

Sab Karim further on technology:

“For the finals also we’ll have the limited DRS. But we’re not introducing any new technology for this. There’s no HawkEye, no Snicko, nothing of that sort. So whatever is available to us, we will implement that. Basically we’re trying to facilitate the umpires to try and come up with better decisions,” Karim said.

He further added, “Such high-profile matches, we want to offer as much tools as possible to the umpires so that they can come up with correct decisions.”

Ranji Trophy’s first semifinal will be played between Gujarat and Saurashtra from February 29 onwards at Rajkot, while the second semifinal will be played between Bengal and Karnataka within the same dates, at Eden Gardens.