Mohali: While Virat Kohli tacked the questions regarding the allegations of his involvement in ball tampering, he, on Friday, also spoke at length about the Decision Review System which India adopted on trial basis for the Test series against England.
Kohli gave thumbs up to the Decision Review System saying: "Yes, I am pretty happy with it (DRS). It just confirms the decision that's been made on the field. And if you want to challenge the umpire, it's not just you telling him that he could have made a different decision, you have the option of checking it again and figure out if it is wrong or right. I think it is pretty fair for the game."
Kohli also said that on-field umpires' decision are respected even in the DRS.
"I think it is just one way to make sure that everyone knows the correct decision has been made or not. The umpire's call bit everyone understands because they are the people who are given the job to make decisions and it is respected even in the DRS System. I think that is pretty fair. A lot of people don't understand that,"
"If the on-field umpire has made the call, then obviously the benefit has to go to him, what his vision of the decision was and then DRS just confirms that particular decision. If it is really, really off, then DRS corrects it but if it is marginal, then you got to respect it. That's all it does. I think it clarifies the decision that is made on the field. I think that's absolutely fine," Kohli added.
When asked about how India has fared while using the DRS, Kohli said, "I think we need to have a bit more patience with that particular aspect. We as a team have only played two Test matches with DRS. And I can't analyse the progress in the span of eight days. It's not something that's going to drastically change, something that's going to keep going on in one direction. We will analyse over a period of 12 months as to how we have used it. A span of eight days is too less to judge, I feel."
Kohli said that while the entire team needs to be aware of the systems, role of the wicketkeeper and the bowler, when it comes to referral, is crucial as teams opt for DRS.
"But obviously the wicketkeeper and the bowler are the main people involved who have the best sight of where the ball hit the pad or if they heard the sound of the bat. The close-in fielders play a massive role as well, as you saw with KL's dismissal. It was Hameed who actually convinced the bowler that he heard something which someone else might not have. So I think it takes awareness of all the people around the bat, especially those close to the batsman, to understand what happened and give the right kind of feedback."
"People don't realise after the ball is declared dead is when the 15 seconds start and not before. So those are the sort of things we will be more aware of going forward but a span of two games is very little to judge how we have gone so far with DRS," he added.
