‘Technology Has Got it Wrong’: Ben Stokes on the DRS Review That Overturned Zak Crawley’s LBW Decision

England skipper, Ben Stokes was in disagreement with the decision regarding the dismissal of the opening batter, Zak Crawley who was dismissed via LBW by the wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav on Day 4 of the second Test at Visakhapatnam.

The away side went on to lose the Test by 106 runs as India managed to level the series 1-1. Crawley had come out on bat at the end of Day 3, stuck around till stumps and looked dangerous the next day as well.

The opener had scored his second consecutive fifty in the Test and looked to take the game away from India. But Kuldeep Yadav managed to strike in his first over. The concern here was that the delivery watch pitching on the leg-stump line and seemed to be missing the stumps for which the umpire had called not-out.

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But a DRS review from the Indian skipper, Rohit Sharma led to the decision being overturned. The ball-tracking technology had shown that the ball would be going on to hit the stumps.

Regarding the dismissal the English skipper understood that the technology need not make the correct decision all the time, but thought that the decision that was made was the incorrect one. He commented, “Technology in the game is obviously there. Everyone has an understanding of the reasons it can never be 100% which is why we have the umpire’s call.”

Stokes added, “When it’s not 100% as everyone says, I don’t think it’s unfair for someone to say ‘I think the technology has got it wrong on this occasion.'”

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The England skipper also mentioned that he did not intend to make this call as an excuse for the reason for their loss but a personal opinion that the ball-tracking technology had got it wrong. He said, “That is my personal opinion. I will say that. But in a game full of ifs, buts and maybes, I am not going to say that is the reason why we haven’t got the result we wanted. I’m just saying my personal opinion is that the technology has gone wrong on this occasion, and I think that’s fair to say.”

Ben Stokes and his team will now have a break after which they will resume the ongoing series with the third Test taking place at Rajkot and the England side will be aiming to take the series lead once again in an attempt to break India’s dominant record at home.