Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, even 12 years after retiring from international cricket, continues to follow the sport with the same sharpness he displayed during his playing days. He regularly tracks rule changes, revised playing conditions, and global matches—especially those involving the Indian team. Recently, in a Reddit interaction, the 52-year-old voiced his strong opinion that the "Umpire’s Call" in the Decision Review System (DRS) should be scrapped.
During the open Q&A session on his official Reddit account, a fan asked Tendulkar which cricketing law he would like to alter. He immediately pointed to the DRS, highlighting its flaws. According to him, when ball-tracking shows "Umpire’s Call," the outcome should be judged solely on whether the ball’s trajectory is hitting the stumps, instead of reverting to the on-field umpire’s decision.
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“I would change the DRS rule on Umpire’s Call. Players have chosen to go upstairs because they were unhappy with the on-field Umpire’s Call. Hence, there should be no option to go back to that call. Just like how players have bad patches, umpires too have bad patches. Technology even when inaccurate will be consistently inaccurate,” Sachin said on the famous social media forum.
This is not the first time Tendulkar has questioned the "Umpire’s Call" system. In a previous conversation with West Indies great Brian Lara, he had suggested that DRS decisions—particularly for LBW (Leg Before Wicket)—should favour the fielding side. His reasoning was that cricket is already heavily tilted toward batters, and bowlers deserve a fairer balance.
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“One thing I don’t agree with, with the ICC, is the DRS they’ve been using for quite some time. It is the LBW decision where more than 50% of the ball must be hitting the stumps for the on-field decision to be overturned. The only reason they (the batter or the bowler) have gone upstairs is because they are unhappy with the on-field decision, so when the decision goes to the third umpire, let the technology take over; just like in tennis – it’s either in or out, there’s nothing in between,” he had said in a video chat with West Indian luminary Brian Lara.
As a bit of trivia, Tendulkar holds the unique distinction of being the first cricketer ever given out by a third umpire. Having debuted in the late 1980s, he has witnessed several evolutions in the sport, making his perspective especially significant. The cricketing world now waits to see if the International Cricket Council (ICC) will consider his suggestion on revising the Umpire’s Call.
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