An image captured from the Hot Spot camera © HotSpot
Although the BCCI agreed to use DRS for the five Tests against England starting on November 9, HotSpot will not be among the tools available.
The last time India played in a series with DRS – also against England in 2011 – they were not impressed with HotSpot. Ravi Shastri, who had been a commentator at the time, had famously said, “HotSpot has gone cold.” Its absence now, however, is the result of logistical issues.
It is understood that about a month ago the BCCI had asked HotSpot proprietors if they could provide the equipment for HotSpot and Realtime Snicko. At the time, the board hadn’t made up its mind over the use of DRS, but was happy to include the technologies as a broadcast tool.
However, the BCCI was told it would take at least the middle of November to transport the hardware to India. And that was not a guarantee either. There was a worst-case scenario which suggested the BCCI would have to wait until mid-February to have HotSpot and Realtime Snicko in working order. This was because the cameras used for HotSpot are military-grade and their shipping required special permission from the Australian government.
So considering the first Test against England scheduled to begin on November 9, the BCCI have decided to use DRS minus HotSpot.
The presence of UltraEdge, however, should help make sure DRS deliberations are as accurate as possible. The technology is used to determine the exact time and place the ball has made contact with the batsman and was a contributing factor in convincing the BCCI to use DRS. “UltraEdge also ensures that post impact balls do not affect the predicted path or impact point and hence the accuracy has been improved,” the board had said last week.
UltraEdge will now be used in detection of edges on caught-behind dismissals, bat-pad catches and to determine whether a batsman had hit the ball in lbw scenarios.
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo