R Ashwin Analyses How DRS In Domestic Cricket Will Help Young Batters Improve 'Faulty' Technique

Ashwin was pinning his argument on the leg before dismissal of India D batsman Ricky Bhui against India C left-arm spinner Manav Suthar in the Anantapur-leg of Duleep Trophy on Friday evening.

Bhui was batting on 44 and looked fluent but he stretched forward to play a defensive prod, and got pinged on his pads.

The on-field umpire initially didn’t give him out as the bowler was forced to resort to the Decision Review System, which favoured the bowler’s plea for a leg before dismissal.

“DRS for domestic cricket is not just for the right decisions to be made. Ricky Bhuvi’s (Bhui) dismissal last evening against Manav Suthar is a classic case of a batter who will get away with this technique 10/10 times in FC cricket,” Ashwin wrote on his official X handle.

“This was not a faulty technique pre DRS but now it is. Back in the day batters were given not out just because they managed to get on the front foot,” he added.

Ashwin’s observation was spot on because in earlier days, umpires hardly gave a batter out if he had plonked his front foot forward, using pad as the first line of defence while tucking the bat behind the pads.

In pre-DRS days, the former West Indian batter Jimmy Adams employed this technique quite routinely to escape from lbw, so much that he received the moniker -- 'Padams".

But now, the bowlers have the option of leaning on DRS to overturn the on-field decision, and the batters will have to adjust their style of play accordingly early in their career.

Ashwin alluded to that.

"Now, keeping your bat behind the pad can be fatal, imagine someone making the climb to international cricket without getting this experience Ricky got yesterday.

"He could very well take an entire Test series to understand what he needs to work on and his career could well be over," he wrote.

However, the DRS, first introduced in the domestic circuit during the 2019-20 season, is yet to be fully implemented in domestic matches.

It is still restricted to big-ticket domestic matches such as Ranji Trophy semifinals and finals.

Initially, the DRS came without the UltraEdge feature and it was later added to the system during the 2022-23 domestic season, albeit only for the final.

But the full version of the DRS is available for the ongoing Duleep Trophy matches in Bengaluru and Anantapur.