MR Singh: Technology does not undermine the authority of an umpire

They say a wicketkeeperrsquos job is a thankless one For he or she only gets noticed when catches are dropped and stumpings missed The same could be said about umpires and when they fail the adage lsquoto err is humanrsquo is probably the hardest thing to live byUmpiring is a mighty challenging job Whatever the level of cricket one has to be a master of all rules and regulations A batsman can play a false stroke and get away A bowler can err in line and length and pay for it in terms of runs from the opposition But for an umpire a slipup could mean no further opportunitiesDifferent elements of the Decision Review SystemIn the midst of all this umpires need to exchange notes among themselves off side and share their experiences to benefit each other midday decided to facilitate such an exchange through our Masterclass series We chose MR Singh 67 a popular umpire in Mumbai who first umpired in firstclass cricket in the 198283 season 10 seasons before he made his international debut in the India v England ODI series Singh recently published his book The Laws of the Game SimplifiedEdited excerpts from the conversationWatch the entire interview hereOn his new book The Laws Of Cricket SimplifiedRight from the time I was first appointed by the Mumbai Cricket Association MCA to teach the laws of cricket in Mumbai I believed that the laws needed to be a lot simpler for the layperson to understand The club cricketer the lay person studentshellipif you ask anyone of them to pick up that blue rule book I bet the person will throw it away after a few minutes unless they have some serious interest in cricket So I set about doing this after I quit my job and the COVID19 lockdown happened I targetted the base level of aspiring umpires and the base level cricketers who need to know the laws of cricket My belief is that knowing the laws of cricket improves you as a cricketer too For that reason I believe that every coaching camp should have at least two or three sessions on the laws Everyone doesnrsquot need to know all the laws but at least some people like the captain vicecaptain and coach should know a lot more because not many know the technicalities of the game The game has become very technical with things like runrates and so many other permutations and combinations Sometimes people donrsquot know the simplest of things I came up with this book because I felt they laws need to be more user friendly Ultra EdgeOn why many former players donrsquot take to umpiringIf I recruited umpires Irsquod look for future umpires among past cricketers because theyrsquove been in the middle and they know the tricks of the trade But itrsquos not always necessary that all former players will become good umpires I think the reason most former players prefer to get into coaching or commentating instead of umpiring is because thatrsquos a lot easier Umpiring is a bit of a grind which they might not want to go through Also until recently umpiring did not pay as well when compared to commentating and money attracts everybody But now I feel there are more and more former cricketers coming into umpiring There is no substitute for experience in my view But this has to be dealt with carefully They have to be given the knowledge appropriately You canrsquot directly push someone into the deep end as there might be calamities We have seen situations in the past where some former players were pushed too early into umpiring and then you just didnrsquot see them anymoreOn the increasing use of technology in the game the Decision Review System and the contentious Umpirersquos CallOne of the most common questions that I would be asked early in my career was if I thought that the use of technology undermined the authority of umpires I believe that ultimately the purpose of technology is that we should be making the right decision I remember I was umpiring in an Australia v South Africa match at Faridabad in 1996 There were two runout decisions In the first my colleague who was at the bowlerrsquos end moved and there was a quick run out I could see that he was hesitant to go for the third umpire but eventually he did and it was given out Then I was involved in a run out appeal against an Australian batsman Without the help of the technology my initial decision would have been out However I referred it to the third umpire and he gave it not out My colleague standing at square leg later asked me what my decision would have been without technology and I told him that I would have given it out So these two decisions made it clear in my mind that technology is a good thing Now coming to Umpirersquos Call in DRS It started with the umpire needing to give some initial decision If there is an appeal he just canrsquot go to the third umpire because he is also being evaluated So he needs to first tell the third umpire if his decision is out or not out So this was only for the evaluation purpose earlier But later it was changed The umpire gives his decision based on what he sees on the field of play without the benefit of technology But Umpirersquos Call says that if a third umpire cannot find anything concrete to reverse the onfield umpirersquos decision then we should stand by the onfield umpirersquos decision There has been a lot of acrimony and I would like to see a modification in this I feel that if the third umpire cannot give a decision despite his access to technology with slow motion cameras hotspot and sound effects etc then the final decision has to be not out regardless of the onfield umpirersquos initial decisionHawk Eye and right Ball Tracking PicsGetty ImagesOn technology often leading to controversyTechnology does not create any problems in tennis because people accept line calls However in DRS the main problem is Umpirersquos Call I also felt that in some decisions maybe two or three decisions this year technology was not properly used There was a decision involving Virat Kohli during a Test against Sri Lanka I wouldnrsquot want to be critical of any umpire but that decision created a lot of controversy The straight view of the camera clearly showed an edge and even when you see at regular speed the deviation from bat to pad is clearly visible There was no need for the onfield umpire to refer to technology and check for soundIndiarsquos Virat Kohli gestures for a DRS review PicAFPOn the concept of Mankading and MCCrsquos move to remove it from the Unfair Play listI donrsquot see why there should have been any uproar about this in the first place Once the bowler starts his runup the ball is in play and if you donrsquot allow a run out then a batsman will do anything stand anywhere You have to allow the run out Also there is no question of the bowler being required to give the batsman a warning If the bowler does it itrsquos great and he gets some applause from the galleries but hersquos not required to warn anyone Itrsquos the batsmanrsquos fault that hersquos out of his ground while the ball is in play So itrsquos the batsman who is acting unfairly not the bowler I understand that there is a lot of stigma attached to this so what the lawmakers did was put it in the Unfair Play list just to give a general impression without calling it unfair The title used to be lsquobowler runs out the nonstriker in his runuprsquo In 2000 they changed the title to indicate more clearly that the nonstriker was leaving his crease before the delivery thereby putting the onus on the nonstriker And now a new body of lawmakers has taken it off the Unfair Play list which means the nonstriker is liable to be run out But Irsquom sure that the next time it happens there will still be controversy The nonstriker is taking an illegal stand so thatrsquos unfair We have seen in the IPL some of the batsmen nonstrikers have been two yards out when the bowlerrsquos front foot has landed This is grossly unfair and only a run out or the threat of a run out at the bowlerrsquos end can stop thisA screenshot of middayrsquos virtual Masterclass with former international umpire MR Singh 2nd row leftOn the importance of fitness for umpiresI used to have my step counter as a matter of interest and I used to walk eight to 10 kms a day to keep fit You have to be pretty fit though not as fit as a football referee because heshe is running throughout the game But standing for over eight hours can be tough and your fitness determines your performance later in the day so thatrsquos crucial