Gilchrist’s all for a no-ball umpire
MUMBAI:FORMER Australia wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist backed the idea of having an offfield umpire check no-balls. He said it’s beneficial for the game to use technology wherever possible.
However, unlike Indian Premier League’s proposal to have an umpire solely dedicated to that task, Gilchrist said the third umpire could do the job.
“Surely there was a replay last year (in the IPL) that showed it was a no-ball. Whether you need a fourth umpire, may be not…why can’t the third umpire just look at the replay and just go not out. That is the simpler version I would have thought unless there’s something too complicated about that. If it means having a fourth guy (umpire) there, and he is going to get the right decision, I am all for it,” said Gilchrist.
Last season, Royal Challengers Bangalore required seven runs off the last ball in a match against Mumbai Indians and on-field umpire S Ravi had missed Lasith Malinga’s no-ball—an incident that led to an ugly spat at the end of the match involving RCB skipper
Virat Kohli.
Gilchrist added that going upstairs after every delivery won’t slow the tempo of the game like VAR has done to football.
“I work in broadcast, they can have a replay within five seconds,” Gilchrist said. “They can make the decision in an instant. VAR seems to have been slowing it a bit but here it’s a line decision and you can have a replay just like that.”
Gilchrist, a veteran of 96 Tests and 287 ODIS, also said that it isn’t always easy for the on-field umpire to keep checking the bowler’s foot and then immediately look up and be part of the action.
“It is pretty challenging for the on-field umpire to look down there, look up there, have everything else going on,” he said.