Paras Dogra on umpiring in Ranji Trophy: Would have been a good experience to have DRS, but can’t control it
Paras Dogra on umpiring in Ranji Trophy: Would have been a good experience to have DRS, but can’t control it
The quality of umpiring in the ongoing Ranji Trophy once again came under scanner as Mumbai’s Shreyas Iyer survived a caught-behind appeal, despite an apparent edge through to the Jammu and Kashmir wicketkeeper Kanhaiya Wadhawan.
The incident happened in the sixteenth over when Shreyas attempted to drive seamer Umar Nazir through covers, but the ball went through to the keeper. There was a clear sound of the edge that umpire S. Ravi seemed to have missed. Though Shreyas perished soon after, the umpiring decisions drew flak.
However, J&K captain Paras Dogra played down the issue, saying such things have been happening for years now. “This has been going on for years and there’s nothing much that we can do about it. Umpires are human after all and can make mistakes. But had they been a bit more attentive, it would have been fun. But it’s part and parcel of the game, and that’s why they got the DRS,” Dogra said.
Over the last five years, the DRS is used only for the knockout stages of the Ranji Trophy. “It would have been a good experience to have DRS here, but we can’t control it since there are 10-15 games happening simultaneously. So, it does not make any difference since everybody is going through this,” the seasoned campaigner added.
Despite putting Mumbai under pressure, J&K lost the grip as Shardul Thakur revived Mumbai with a century. “Shardul’s was one of the best innings I have seen,” Dogra said, adding: “The ball stopped moving after a point, so that had an impact. That’s when we tried doing something different and tried out bouncers, which did not work. But Shardul played really well…”
While he is still hopeful of restricting the opponent to 250 and then aim for an outright victory, the Mumbai camp seems to be inspired by Shardul’s magical innings.
As fast bowler Mohit Avasthi, who claimed a fifer, said: “His innings has been inspiring. First, he scored that invaluable fifty in the first innings and then followed it up with this hundred and that allowed us to come back into the game…”
Though Shardul battled cramps, Avasthi was confident that the former would be available for bowling in the second innings. “It’s nothing major and he will definitely bowl,” he said, adding: “In the second innings, our mindset was how to make a comeback after losing those quick wickets. This wasn’t the first time we were in such a spot, but we came back strongly and this time, too, we had a similar mindset…”
