Stokes and Hussain Clash Over Umpire's Call in DRS

England's Test captain Ben Stokes has once again expressed his frustration with the 'umpire's call' rule in the Decision Review System (DRS), which he believes has cost his team wickets during their tour of India. Stokes pointed to the dismissal of opener Zak Crawley in the second innings of the Rajkot Test as an example, arguing that the ball was clearly missing the stumps but was given out due to the 'umpire's call'.

Stokes's concerns are shared by former England captain Nasser Hussain, who agrees that the Crawley dismissal was incorrect. However, Hussain believes that the 'umpire's call' is an important part of the DRS system, as it accounts for the margin of error in the technology.

"Technology can be fallible, but I've always been very strong on the fact I like the DRS and I also like the umpire's call," Hussain wrote in his Daily Mail column. "Look at the shemozzle with VAR in football. It's just not like that in cricket. Stokes and others like Virat Kohli may want to get rid of it, but the umpire's call is not there to protect the officials; it's there because of the margin of error in the technology."

Hussain also pointed out that there have been changes to the DRS system in recent years, including increasing the height at which the ball can clip the bails. This means that some LBW decisions that would have previously been given out are now being overturned.

"Bear in mind, also, there have been a couple of changes in the system and the ball can now clip the top of the bails," Hussain said. "The LBWs for Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley in the third Test did look high, but they have increased the height by 1.3 centimeters. One thing I will agree on with Ben. He said the visual of Crawley's dismissal showed the ball missing the stumps. If that's the case, you can't have that."

The debate over the 'umpire's call' is likely to continue, with strong arguments on both sides. However, it is clear that the system is not perfect and there is room for improvement.

Tags: #cricket, #DRS, #umpire's, call, #Ben