Sangakkara's Veiled Atack On Umpiring Standards

In a veiled attack on the standard of umpiring in the Test series against India, Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara on Sunday  said the three-match rubber should have had the Decision Review System in place as dodgy decisions cost his side "over 500 runs and a lot of wickets". 

"This series is probably the best advertisement for having the review system. When decisions cost us over 500 runs and a lot of wickets, it always put lots of pressure on any side," Sangakkara said after his side were outclassed by the home side by an innings in two of the three Tests, including the third and final match in Mumbai on Sunday .

Sangakkara contended that while he would accept that his side was outplayed by India, the absence of the review system was a big handicap to the visitors. 

"We accept the fact we were out-bowled and outplayed. But to not have the review system when every other side in the world is playing with the review system and when the ICC said all sides would play with the review system becomes an extra handicap and that handicap cost us huge amount of runs in this Test and in the last Test," the visiting team skipper said. 

Tillakratane Dilshan was unlucky to be given out in both the innings of the match here. On first occasion he was given out caught but TV replays showed that the ball had not hit his bat.

In the second innings, he was given out leg before even though the ball was missing leg stump and going above the bails. 

However, his opposite number Mahendra Singh Dhoni said it he was not in favour of a system which is still not 100 per cent accurate. 

"I think it's very difficult to speak as I have not played in a single series that had review system. At the same time I don t think it is 100 per cent fool proof. It is not like a vehicle which is 100 per cent bullet proof," Dhoni said. 

"If you are traveling in one of those vehicles vehicle you would want it to be either 100 per cent bullet proof vehicle or nothing. You don't want to try something that s not fool proof," he added. 

Saying he would welcome it if it can give 90 per cent decisions correctly, Dhoni said the sides benefiting from it would praise it and suffering from it would slam it. 

"It has its own advantages and disadvantages. If it was part of the series and we were at the receiving end I would come in the evening and say its not good. At the same time if your spinners get wickets because of the review system you tend to be on its favoured side. It's very difficult to judge right now to judge whether it's good or not.

"Of course you can always strive to make it a fool-proof system where 90 per cent of the times it gets the correct decision," he declared. 

Sangakkara   said his side was completely outplayed in the Test series and blamed the 0-2 loss on his bowlers' inability to either contain or dismiss India's formidable batting line-up.

"We were out-batted and out bowled, mostly out-bowled. We created chances right along but catching at crucial times let us down. We were never able to continuously put pressure on the Indian batsmen," he said.

"Our bowling lacks penetration. In the second Test, we bowled only five maiden overs in the entire (Indian) innings. That just goes to show that it's always tough. If you can't tie a batsman down for more than an over from one side it becomes very difficult to exert continuous pressure," he added.

Sangakkara, who scored a fighting hundred in the second innings, was also critical of his team's fielding.

"It's more the singles and stopping the singles and keeping batsmen on strike, if singles are going as well as the boundaries then you are in a bit of trouble. We tried as many fielding options as we could in the tests but it didn't work," he explained. 

Looking back at the series, Sangakkara said the bowlers did not create enough chances.

"Our fast bowlers sometimes created chances but then onwards it was a tough graft. They (India) were always ahead of the game when it came to their batting but (Tillakaratne) Dilshan, Mahela, (Jayawardene), Prasanna (Jayawardene), Thilan (Samaraweera) and Angelo (Mathews) batted well and tried hard. But it was not to be. You have got to be realistic about it and say yes we were outplayed," he said.

Talking about the final Test here, Sangakkara said once his team lost six wickets on the fourth day it was very difficult to save the match.

"We wanted to try and prolong it as long as possible, but once you lost six wickets the final day is going to be tough but everyone wanted to fight as long as possible," he said.

Lavishing praise on India opener Virender Sehwag for his devastating knock of 293 that demoralised Lanka, Sangakkara said his team could still have come back from the flogging but for his rival counterpart Mahendra Singh Dhoni's hundred at the end. PTI