DRS And The 'Cheat' Gate Drama

The two cricket boards, the Board of Control for Cricket in India and Cricket Australia and the two CEOs, Rahul Johri and James Sutherland respectively, may be patting themselves on the back for a job well done...

- Sreelata S. Yellamrazu

India and Australia have made something of a bilateral history not only in their combustive contests in the middle but also, in the war of words that often spills over off the field. How then could this contest be any different? While the fiasco that began on the final day’s play of cricket on the field in Bengaluru hurtled towards a possibly belligerent conclusion, suddenly almost as if it were nothing more than a mere spark, the controversy was shoved rather neatly under a thick rug, leaving many wondering: what was that all about?

While the two cricket boards, the Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI) and Cricket Australia (CA) and the two CEOs, Rahul Johri and James Sutherland respectively, may be patting themselves on the back for a job well done of diffusing a spark of bushfire proportions, they may have inadvertently and unwittingly undermined one or both captains as a result of their decision to put a full stop to the storm without completely putting out the flame.

Try as they may have to fizzle it out, the issue at hand of the Decision Review System (DRS) and the allegation made against the Australian captain of seeking the mandate of the dressing room is not insignificant in itself. It raises a great many questions as it raises the question of discipline and adherence to the spirit of the game as well as the violation of the code of conduct. These are serious offences in the context of the game and that too, leveled against captains of the top two ranked Test teams in the world.