ICC decides to retain 'umpire’s call'

The contentious "umpire's call" will be retained in the Decision Review System (DRS), the International Cricket Council announced on Thursday after its Board meeting. The "umpire's call" has generated lot of heat in the past few months.

ICC's cricket committee, headed by former India skipper Anil Kumble, decided that the umpire's call—allowing the original call made by the on-field official to stand in case of marginal decisions—will remain.

"The principle underpinning DRS was to correct clear errors in the game whilst ensuring the role of the umpire as the decision-maker on the field of play was preserved, bearing in mind the element of prediction involved with the technology. Umpire's Call allows that to happen, which is why it is important it remains," Kumble said in an ICC statement.

The Board meeting did not take a call on the contentious plan to have an ICC event every year. "The matter has been pushed back for good," a member Board official said. The previous ICC dispensation with Shashank Manohar as chairman and Manu Sawhney as CEO had put together an ambitious idea to generate more revenue for the global body. The boards of India, Australia and England—the most influential among the national bodies—saw it as eating into their window for bilateral cricket and home T20 leagues and strongly opposed the idea. Sawhney has been asked to go on leave following an independent review of his style of functioning.

INDIA T20 WORLD CUP

The T20 World Cup slated for October-November in India remains on course despite pending tax matters. "The Board received an update on the ongoing preparations around the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021 in India. This included an update from the BCCI on positive discussions with the Indian government around tax arrangements and visa guarantees. It is anticipated that both issues will be resolved over the next month," ICC said in the statement.

The Indian board has been in talks with the government seeking tax exemptions to host ICC events. BCCI office-bearers had apprised its members at the AGM that if no tax exemptions were given, the board would meet the liability amounting to approximately Rs.900 crore.

The "visa guarantees" was sought by the Pakistan Cricket Board which wanted a written assurance from BCCI that all its players, officials, fans and journalists would be issued visas for the World Cup. A BCCI official said of PCB's demands: "The issue had been tackled by the government last year itself, after a couple of Pakistan shooters were denied visa for the ISSF World Shooting Championships in New Delhi."

MORE PLAYERS AT ICC EVENTS

The ICC will allow teams to have "seven additional players and/or support staff to accompany the squad of 23 to ICC senior events where a period of quarantine is required and/or teams are accommodated in a bio-secure bubble". Such a decision is taken with the ICC World Test Championship final, scheduled in June, in mind.