Thakur says BCCI open to using DRS minus Hawk-Eye

BCCI president Anurag Thakur has said that India is open to agreeing on a revised template for the Decision Review System (DRS) in matches, specifically that they may agree to the use of all non-predictive elements of the system if they can be "delinked" from Hawk-Eye's projections in lbw decisions.

"You can have some and leave [Hawk-Eye]," Thakur told ESPNcricinfo in Florida during India's T20 series against West Indies this past weekend. "If that comes as an option, we can look into that."

When asked specifically if the BCCI would accept the use of visual aids such as Hot Spot and real-time Snicko in addition to the standard camera angles, Thakur nodded in the affirmative. He reiterated the BCCI's longstanding opposition to Hawk-Eye, though, because it is not "100% foolproof".

The ICC had commissioned a group of MIT researchers in Boston to do a study of the DRS' various mechanisms and report back on their effectiveness. Current India coach Anil Kumble, who heads the ICC cricket committee, was involved in the process, and Thakur said he was able to review the findings in his role on the chief executive's committee at the ICC. The findings had not produced anything to sway the BCCI from their firm stance regarding Hawk-Eye's predictive elements, but Thakur said the board is open to discussions on other parts of the DRS.

"I raised this question at that time also, whether it is 100% foolproof? No. Whether changes are required? Yes. When it could be done? MIT was supposed to give a report but they are themselves not much confident that it could be 100% foolproof," Thakur said. "Our only issue is whether a technology which is not 100% foolproof, shall we agree that error of judgement is equal with standing umpire and with the technology available? So that is the call we have to take."

The BCCI had floated the idea of a scaled-down DRS system earlier this year ahead of the IPL season, but it was passed over at the time. However, Thakur reiterated that it could be tabled again both for domestic and international use in the near future if there is confidence in the other elements of the system that are not related to the predictive path of lbw decisions.

"I said earlier also that you can have it partially without the lbw decisions, only for the rest of the decisions, Hawk-Eye and the rest of the stuff," Thakur said. "But we need to ask ourselves if a machine is making the same error which a human is making, what are we getting out of it?"