Former ICC Elite Panel umpire, Srinivas Venkataraghavan on Saturday gave a big thumbs down to the controversial Decision Review System (DRS) and backed the Indian cricket board's stand against its use.
"I am against the DRS. When you want technology you want to make sure that you don't leave any ambiguity. It's got to be one hundred per cent foolproof," the former India captain said in Mumbai.
"Whatever is the stand of the BCCI is also my stand," he added.
Venkat, who led India in the first two World Cups, was incidentally the last ICC Elite Panel umpire from India and none of his compatriots has made it to the list since his retirement from umpiring duties.
Venkat, the director of the BCCI umpires sub-committee, pointed out the shortcomings of the DRS system using Hawkeye technology to track the ball's trajectory once it pitches. It was used by the ICC during the last World Cup held in the sub-continent.
"You can see the fallout of the ball tracking technology in the recent World Cup. If you have seen the World Cup matches you would yourself know; I don't have to say anything. You can see the percentage of the number of correct decisions (challenges) taken by the players," he said.
The BCCI, which has opposed DRS since its very inception, has been facing flak from several countries for refusing to use the technology in Test matches. Recently English players such as James Anderson, Graeme Swann and Chris Tremlett criticised the Indian cricket board for rejecting it for next month's Test series.
