NEWS
SCHEDULES
COLUMNS
PREVIOUS TOURS
OTHER SPORTS
STATISTICS
INTERVIEWS
SLIDE SHOW
ARCHIVES

Rediff Shopping

Shop & gift from thousands of products!   Books     Music       Apparel   Jewellery   Flowers   More..      Safe Shopping

BCCI to review substitute for D/L system

Our Correspondent

The technical committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, at its meeting in Pune on Tuesday, decided to review a new substitute for the 'infamous' Duckworth and Lewis system. It is devised by Kerala statistician Jayadewan.

The meeting was chaired by Sunil Gavaskar, chairman technical committee, and attended by A S Bhatnagar (North Zone), Praveen Barve (West), G Vinod (South), Bhagwandas Sutar (Central), ex-Test umpire Rambabu Gupta, and ex-Test player Brajesh Patel. M P Mahapatra (East) abstained from the over two-hour meeting.

Among others present were BCCI selection committee chairman Chandu Borde, in his capacity as special observer, and BCCI secretary Jaywant Lele.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, Lele said, "The board has told Jayadewan to compare his system with the D/L system, by going through the last 50 'interrupted' matches."

He elaborated: "We have also told him that whatever papers he submits to the committee will be spread among umpires for their suggestions."

The national umpires' seminar, in the first week of September, will discuss the system.

Presently, the board awaits the outcome of the international umpires and match referees' seminar, to be held in England on July 28-29, wherein the official millennium new edition laws will be studied and finalised.

Lele added: "Once we finalise the new system we will be sending it to the ICC for review."

He answered in negative when asked if the new system would be put to use during the present domestic season. "Not at present, as the D/L system is already prevalent worldwide. You just cannot do away with it (D/L)," he said.

Asked why the board is considering a substitute for the D/L system, when it has been adopted by all ICC countries, Lele said: "There is some anomaly with the D/L system. Like the team batting second has to score more runs in a rain-interrupted encounter, which is not acceptable to some members of the board, the technical committee and also the ICC's technical committee."

Duleep Trophy new format: It was deja vu as far as discussion regarding the new Duleep Trophy format was concerned. As the board had already decided last month to change the Duleep Trophy from a five-day knock out to a four-day round-robin league, the committee decided to go ahead with the "already decided" new format.

Asked why Gavaskar should not step down from the panel after the locker issue at the Bombay Gymkhana, Lele said: "It has nothing to do with the board."