/ 2 December 2009

Dilshan favours referrals after wrong dismissal

Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan said on Wednesday he would still be batting in the third Test against India if the umpires’ referral system had been in place for the series.

Dilshan, who made 109 in Sri Lanka’s first-day total of 366-8, fell to a poor decision by umpire Nigel Llong midway through the final session at the Brabourne stadium.

The Englishman gave Dilshan caught at short-leg off Harbhajan Singh even as television replays showed the ball go off the batsman’s pad to Murali Vijay.

”If the referral system was there, I would still be batting out there,” Dilshan told reporters after the day’s play.

The system gives a batting or fielding team two chances per innings to contest an on-field umpire’s decision by referring it to the third umpire watching television replays.

The system is not being used in the current series because the television company broadcasting the matches was reportedly not willing to bear the additional expenses.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has not officially commented on why the system was not being used.

The system is in place for two other series — Pakistan-New Zealand and Australia-West Indies — taking place at the same time. — AFP