London: Former England captain Geoffrey Boycott feels it is time that all countries supported the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) for its use in Tests and did not hesitate in outvoting the powerful Indian cricket board, which has been opposing the review system.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been against the use of UDRS since its inception, saying it is not reliable. The controversial issue is likely to be settled through voting during the ICC Annual Conference in Hong Kong later this month.
Boycott, acknowledging the clout of BCCI in the cricketing world, said all countries which want to vote in favour of the UDRS must not be intimidated by the BCCI.
“If a majority of the ICC countries believe that the UDRS is a good improvement for international cricket, they should vote for it and say, ‘Sorry India, you are in a minority’. It’s supposed to be a democracy around the world, where the majority takes precedence,” Boycott said on Thursday.
“But there is fear to offend, and some countries are totally afraid to offend India. The sooner they get around to it and say, ‘No. Since a majority of us believe it is good, we are going to do it’, the better. Simple as that. India won’t like it, but you can’t be run by one country.”
The ICC cricket committee met in May and recommended the implementation of UDRS in Tests and One-day Internationals but with a limit of one failed review instead of two.
Boycott said the countries favouring the technology are in a majority but to get a positive decision in the meeting will not be easy.
Boycott gave his reasons for other countries not wanting to offend India.
“When you play international cricket, every country has its own television rights with its home broadcaster. When India come, you have got a number of TV stations queuing up in India to get the rights to beam the coverage in India and they pay a lot of money for that. Other countries don’t have the same financial buying power.” (IANS)