NEW DELHI: The International Cricket Council on Tuesday bowed to India's wishes and made the Umpire Decision Review System optional, four months after saying its use was compulsory.
The ICC's powerful Executive Board, which met in Dubai over the last two days, reverted to its original decision of allowing the participating nations in a bilateral series to decide on using the system.
Under the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS), teams are allowed two television reviews per innings if they feel the on-field umpires have not given the correct decision.
The very influential Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had last month opposed even the partial use of the UDRS, saying the current technology was not suitable.
An ICC release on Tuesday said the change had been made "following recent experiences and the resultant concern about the effectiveness of Hot Spot."
"The Executive Board decided to revert to its previous position to allow the participating nations to decide bilaterally whether they wished to use the UDRS," the release said.
"Although the UDRS improves correct umpire decisions by around five per cent and corrects any blatant errors, there are some who are not convinced by its reliability," ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said in the statement.
"We will continue to work with interested parties to improve the system, while permitting the participating teams to decide whether they wish to use it or not."
The UDRS system will, however, continue to be used at all ICC events like the World Cup, the release said.
The ICC had at its annual meeting in Hong Kong in June made the UDRS compulsory for all international matches, if the host board could afford the costs.
But it had been agreed, at India's insistence, that the Hawk-Eye ball-tracking system for leg-before decisions would be optional, while the infra-red Hot Spot technology to determine edges will be used, if available.
The BCCI reverted to its original opposition to the entire system after Hot Spot failed to accurately show edges off the bat on several occasions during India's recent disastrous tour of England.
The new BCCI president N. Srinivasan said soon after his election in September that the UDRS needed to be abolished unless the technology was foolproof.
"We were under the impression that Hot Spot was very good, but it is not accurate", Srinivasan had said after the BCCI's annual general meeting.
"We do not wish to use the UDRS in its present form, even in its minimum standard."
The UDRS was first used on a trial basis during India's Test series in Sri Lanka in 2008, but the Indians wanted it abolished after numerous decisions went against them.
The BCCI has already said the UDRS will not be in operation for the five-match one-day series against England starting in Hyderabad on Friday.
The system is also unlikely to be used for India's home series against the West Indies in November, or during the tour of Australia at the end of the year.
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