Mohammad Hafeez, the coach of Pakistan, expressed strong frustration, claiming that technology has negatively impacted cricket after a crucial DRS decision in the second Test. During the match at the MCG, Australian captain Pat Cummins was bowling to Mohammad Rizwan, with Pakistan at 5-219, needing 98 runs for victory.
When the Australians appealed for a caught behind, umpire Michael Gough initially ruled not out, prompting Cummins to challenge the decision after seeing the replay, which indicated the ball had touched Rizwan’s glove. Despite the evidence, after an extended review, third umpire Richard Illingworth reversed the decision.
Following this, Pakistan quickly lost four wickets for just 20 runs, leading to Australia’s 79-run victory, giving them a 2-0 series lead. Hafeez criticized the officials, believing they made an incorrect call that significantly affected the game’s outcome.
Hafeez further said: “Technology, I’m in favour of it if it’s giving you the benefit, but if it’s bringing some doubt and bringing some curse into the game it should not be acceptable by anyone. We play this beautiful game of cricket on the basics of the game, but sometimes the technology brings some decisions which obviously as a human we don’t understand. The ball hitting into the stumps (on DRS) is always out. Why is there an umpire’s call? I’ve never understood that.”
“I think there are a lot of areas that need to be addressed for the betterment of cricket in general where technology is taking away from the instinct of the game. We play this game for the fans but the fans will never understand why this technology is inconsistent and the result of the game comes up differently. This technology is basically putting a curse on this beautiful game of cricket and we need to address it.”
Australian legend Adam Gilchrist mentioned that the video footage of the incident wasn’t completely clear-cut, but he acknowledged that it appeared to touch the top of Rizwan’s glove.
Hafeez further continued, “I spoke to him and he’s a very honest person and what he said to me was he did not even feel that it touched anywhere near the gloves. And what we know is there should be conclusive evidence for the third umpire to reverse the decision. “The umpire gave it not out and there was no clear conclusive evidence that the decision has to be turned over.”
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