Sunil Gavaskar’s furious on-air “umpire’s call” rant amid Ben Stokes-DRS controversy | cricket news

Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar has suggested that if the umpire’s call is removed then Test matches will end in two and a half days. Gavaskar’s comments come after England captain Ben Stokes appealed to get rid of the umpire’s call following the 434-run defeat in the third Test. The all-rounder expressed his disappointment at Jack Crawley’s LBW in the second innings of the third Test in Rajkot, demanding more consistency in terms of decision-making with the umpire’s calls.

“Yeah, just about Zach’s DRS. He was just giving us some information on how the decision to give out was made on DRS when the ball did not hit the stumps. In the replay, the ball did not hit the stumps. Obviously “It was like the numbers said it hit the stumps, but the image was wrong. So I don’t really understand what’s happening there,” Stokes said after the conclusion of the match.

However, Gavaskar took a dig at Stokes and other critics of the umpire call rule.

On the opening day of the ongoing fourth Test, Gavaskar spoke about the usefulness of umpire calls. The great batsman pointed to the incident involving England opener Ben Duckett, who was given not out due to the umpire’s call after the ball hit the stumps.

Duckett survived a close DRS call after umpire Kumar Dharmasena gave him not out on India’s LBW appeal. Replays showed that the ball was hitting the off stump.

“Take a look at this. It’s the umpire’s call. For those who are saying that the umpire’s call should have been overturned, on the replay (in this instance), the ball was hitting the stumps, which meant, Duckett’s bye. ‘If the umpire’s call is over and the ball is hitting the stumps, he will be given out. This is Test cricket, most matches will be over in two and a half days,” Gavaskar said on commentary.