‘Technology at fault’ – Shadab Khan fumes at ball-tracking DRS error in Islamabad United defeat
Shadab Khan was left fuming after a DRS error hurt his Islamabad United side at a key juncture in their narrow defeat to Quetta Gladiators.
The incident occurred in the 11th over of Quetta Gladiators’ chase of 139 in the Pakistan Super League today (Thursday, February 22). Agha Salman was bowling to opposition captain Rilee Rossouw and beat the batter’s sweep, with Aleem Dar raising the finger following an appeal.
Rossouw reviewed, and ball-tracking showed the ball turning significantly, hitting him outside the line and turning past the stumps. Dar, Salman and Shadab were all perplexed on the field, but the decision stayed. Had it stayed out, Quetta Gladiators would have been 82-5. Instead, Rossouw batted through for an unbeaten 34 as his side triumphed by three wickets. He was named Player of the Match.
A close look at the ball-tracking animation revealed the error, with the impact point used for the decision a distance from where the ball had hit the pad. Speaking to Zainab Abbas after play, Shadab fumed at the apparent injustice. “I think technology was at fault,” he was quoted in saying in translation by Grassroots Cricket, a Pakistani outlet. “A different ball was shown. These small mistakes shouldn’t be happening in such a big tournament.”
Shadab Khan: "I think technology was at fault. A different ball was shown (on the ball tracker for the Rilee Rossouw review). These small mistakes shouldn't be happening in such a big tournament."#HBLPSL9 | #QGvIU pic.twitter.com/lc6eaYrKZD
— Grassroots Cricket (@grassrootscric) February 22, 2024
DRS has been in the spotlight in recent weeks, with several contentious calls and another confirmed error in the India-England series. After Zak Crawley’s dismissal in the second innings at Rajkot, Ben Stokes received assurances that he was correctly given out despite a graphical error showing the projected path of the ball missing the stumps. Stokes has also sparked a debate over whether umpire’s call should be removed from the game, to “level the playing field”.
In this case, however, with the ball missing the stumps altogether, the removal of umpire’s call would have made no difference to whether Rossouw was out or not.
