ICC can't force India to accept DRS: Richardson

Kuala Lumpur, June 28 (ANI): International Cricket Council (ICC) CEO David Richardson on Thursday said India, or more specifically the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), could not be forced to accept the Umpires Dispute Redressal System (UDRS).

Defending the ICC's embarrassing U-turn over the appeals technology, Richardson said he wouldn't drag a powerful India "kicking and screaming" into accepting it.

Richardson, who succeeded Haroon Lorgat as ICC CEO, admitted that a majority of the cricketers and the umpiring fraternity have backed the UDRS, which checks whether batsmen should be given out or not if field umpires are unable to arrive at a decision.

The ICC was left red-faced at annual talks here this week, when chief executives of cricket boards proposed the introduction of mandatory DRS in Tests and one-day internationals, only for the board to reject the move and leave it as a decision for the two competing sides.

India was the only country to publicly oppose the universal use of the ball-tracking and thermal-imaging system.

As it wields considerable clout in international cricket because of the revenue it generates through its huge fan base and advertisements, the BCCI was able to maintain status quo on the application of the DRS.

"The point is that the BCCI need to make that decision for themselves. It's never good to take anyone kicking and screaming to do anything. The introduction of technology has always been controversial... but slowly but surely that's changed and I think we're pretty much at that point where everyone is accepting, certainly at international level," Richardson told media here.

He added: "I don't think (the decision is) negative at all. We'll be seeing DRS used in the majority of series going forward and there would be no sense in forcing anything upon anybody."

India's deep suspicion of DRS stems from their 2008 Test series with Sri Lanka, when the technology was on trial and a number of reviews went against them. (ANI)