Ganguly welcomes DRS implementation

Sourav Ganguly has welcomed the ICC's decision to make the DRS mandatory for international Tests and ODIs, saying that there would only be more improvements ahead for all the parties involved. Ganguly told ESPNcricinfo that he understood India's reluctance to use the system because, "they had their reasons".

Ganguly was a part of the Indian team which played the first series in which the DRS was used, against Sri Lanka in 2008. In the immediate aftermath of that series, the Indian team had expressed its lack of confidence in the technology to the BCCI. "At the time we were not convinced by the camera angles in use at the time," Ganguly said. "We were not convinced they were right. There was so much negativity around it that we didn't think it worked. Hopefully there's much more consistency around it now."

Ganguly, who left Sri Lanka after the Test series, said he did not know whether the Indian team had made its concerns about the camera angles known either to the match referee or the broadcasters.

After the 2008 series, Ganguly got a first-hand view of the DRS during his television commentary stint at the 2011 World Cup. "The changes were huge, the technology was just far better this time," he said.

Making the DRS mandatory for Tests and ODIs, he said, was a step forward for the game itself. "Would I have liked to have played under the DRS? It's hard to say now, but you accept technology and you get used to it - and that's probably what would have happened. In the case of the DRS, players will get better using it as they go along."

Ganguly said it was important that players' opinions on the technology that involves them directly are heard, and any changes and improvements also communicated to them.

Ganguly was in Hong Kong on the invitation of the ICC to speak at its annual conference. Along with Shane Watson this morning, he addressed the Full Council's members' forum, the last event of its annual conference. On his first visit to Hong Kong, Ganguly held a clinic for young players at the Kowloon Cricket Club yesterday, where he was asked what he thought about cricket in Hong Kong. He glanced around at KCC's small ground with its short boundaries and said with a smile, "When I played, I loved hitting sixes."