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India v/s England: DRS - Trial ball for India

With hosts adopting referral system on temporary basis, it could turn out to be game changer in Test series against England

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Indian team trains during a practice session in Rajkot. The addition of the controversial Decision Review System (DRS) in this Test series against England will add more drama in the five-match contest that begins on Wednesday
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It was a pleasant Monday morning with sunlight still a couple of hours away. International Cricket Council umpire from Sri Lanka, Kumar Dharmasena, and legendary England all-rounder and now television commentator Ian Botham were waiting in line to board their flight for Rajkot.

Both were on their way for the first Test between India and England starting at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium here from Wednesday.

Spotting the familiar faces, an enthusiastic fan went up to Dharmasena and asked, "You Dharmasena?" The Sri Lankan, not giving in so easily, said: "I am Kumar," in his Sri Lankan accent.

A bit confused, the fan went back to the line to board the flight.

Dharmasena then told Botham, "He will know who I am when I signal like this (crossing his arms over to his shoulders just like how umpires do to reverse their decision). Then he will know I am Kumar Dharmasena." The Englishman just smiled wryly.

Dharmasena will be one of the two on-field umpires for the first ever Test to be staged in Rajkot along with New Zealand's Chris Gaffaney.

Dharmasena, in particular, was at the centre of the Decision Review System (DRS) issue recently when during the first Bangladesh-England Test in Chittagong two weeks ago, 16 of his decisions were reviewed with eight of them being wrong ones.

DRS will be in focus during the Test series – at least the first one – as India, after being reluctant for a long time, have agreed to it on a trial basis with certain conditions.

With the Indian players not being used to DRS, it will be interesting to see how they go about the whole business of referrals. The only time India used DRS was when it was introduced on their Sri Lankan tour in 2008 under Anil Kumble's captaincy. India did not get most of their referrals right on that tour.

Now that they have agreed to use it, they will also be spending more time discussing ways to go about it, when to use it and when not to.

Kumble is now India chief coach and he will be carefully studying the finer points of the use of technology towards better umpiring decisions, and emphasis would also be on familiarising the players with DRS and its use.

India vice-captain and No. 5 batsman Ajinkya Rahane said here on Monday. "We will spend some time understanding DRS -- how it works and how we should approach it. The focus, however, will be on playing good, attacking cricket here. DRS, obviously, comes later on."

While cricketing skills will be on test, some sections feel that DRS may play a deciding role in the five-Test series. Rahane thought otherwise. "Yes, but that will come later on. We will discuss about this but right now our focus is to build our strengths and play to our strengths.

"DRS is a completely new concept for all of us. We'll have to wait and see. We have been discussing this since the last series and we have some plans. The wicketkeeper is obviously important and as a slip fielder, you have that role to convey that message to captain and bowler. We'll have to wait and see how it goes in this series," Rahane, who will play a crucial role in the use of DRS from his position in slips, added.

On how it could be used from the non-striker's end, the 28-year-old right-handed batsman said: "As a batsman, you are completely involved with the game. So you have to see where the ball is going and you have to convey that to your partner and you have to be sure all the time."

England may be slightly better placed in this regard as they have been using DRS for for a long time.

Asked if DRS could be the game-changer this series, senior England player Stuart Broad said on Monday: "We certainly got enough practice in Bangladesh, that's for sure. We had a lot of referrals over there. We have got to be quite clear with the communication.

"It's a bit different with the ball spinning in India than it seaming and swinging in England, so it is a bit hard to judge. I think we are looking for the wicketkeeper and the bowler to make quite stronger opinions on it and obviously, Cooky (captain Alastair Cook) will take over and go with the gut feeling. We could have done well in Bangladesh. In Dhaka (2nd Test), we wasted a couple (of referrals).

"It will play a big part in this series. You are in danger of being hit on the path because DRS brings in the opportunity to overturn decisions. So, I really enjoyed playing with it. You get right decisions a lot of the time. But I think communication within the team is so vital for it."

One thing is for sure, along with the skill contest, spectators are in for more drama, courtesy DRS.

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