Domestic umpiring under scanner
New Delhi, March 12: The BCCI is planning to replace the official kookaburra ball with SG white for India’s limited overs matches at home.
The matter was discussed at length during the annual captain- coaches’ conclave in Mumbai where another pressing issue was poor standard of umpiring.
In India, the first- class matches as well as the Test matches are played with SG Test brand while kookaburra whites were used for the limited overs matches.
However, the BCCI used SG white for the Mushtaq Ali T20 and Vijay Hazare Trophy this season on experimental basis.
While initially, the feedback wasn’t great during Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the players were happy with the quality provided during the Hazare Trophy.
The other important topic that came up for a lot of deliberation was standard of umpiring during this year’s domestic tournaments. “Most of the captains and coaches have had complaints about umpiring standards. There were a lot of debatable decisions given. In general, the standard of Indian umpires can be gauged by the fact that only Sundaram Ravi is there in the ICC Elite Panel,” a BCCI official said.
There were a few in numbers who also requested for use of DRS in domestic matches but it was shot down.
About the Ranji Trophy season that has gone by, the teams want to revert to old three group format which gives them more matches at league stage.
Earlier 28 teams would be divided into three groups with one group having 10 teams and 9 each in two other groups.