Many questions remain unanswered in Afridi’s case

While the raging dispute between Shahid Afridi and the Pakistan Cricket Board has come to a close, the governing body of the game in Pakistan has succeeded in avoiding many important and pertinent questions which were raised during the last two weeks.

This was stated by Mehmood Mandviwalla who appeared as counsel for Shahid Afridi in the case.

Mehmood felt that the main question is whether there is a link between the grant of the NOC to play for Hampshire with the disciplinary proceedings since the ICC clearly lays down the guidelines for refusal of NOC by a home board.

"The question is whether the PCB follows such guidelines or again uses its own judgement to grant, refuse or take away an NOC that has already been given," Mehmood pointed out.

He added that the ICC recognises that players have a fundamental right to earn a living and hence cannot be deprived of an NOC by a home board and that an NOC is only a guarantee that the player should remain available to play for the national side and the player’s fitness should not be comprised while playing county cricket.

He further stated that the PCB does not appear to have a permanent disciplinary committee and it functions on a need-basis with excessive authority that is delegated to them. 

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I am not against DRS, says Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar is not against the controversial Decision Review System (DRS) but he wants it to be more consistent, the Indian batsman said.

The general perception is that the powerful Indian cricket board's steadfast opposition to DRS stems partially from the apprehension that Tendulkar and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, share about the technology's accuracy.

Tendulkar, however, said he was not altogether against the technology.

"I am not against DRS, but I feel it will be more effective with the support of the Snickometer and Hot Spot technology. This will give more consistent results," he told a cricket website.

The Snickometer is used detect edges, while Hot Spot gives more convincing indications of the ball's point of contact. Hawk Eye technology, used more often, replicates the ball's trajectory.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has recommended the mandatory use of DRS, under which teams currently can make two unsuccessful appeals against an umpire's decision per innings, in all formats of the game but the Indian cricket board have vowed to oppose it.

Incidentally, Tendulkar's one-day opening partner Virender Sehwag is an admirer of it while former India coach Gary Kirsten has also backed the technology which, the ICC claimed, has improved correct decisions by seven percent.

"I have even told the ICC that we have no problem with Hot Spot. Our objection is to ball tracking," Indian cricket board president Shashank Manohar told website.

BCCI secretary N Srinivasan shot off an angry letter to the ICC in March, claiming the technology's "inadequacy" had been exposed in this year's 50-over World Cup, which was won by India.

The BCCI's opposition meant the DRS would not be used in India's tour of England starting next month.

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