In a whirl of high-definition graphics, the Umpire Decision Review System is drawing flak at the ICC World Cup 2011 as the men in the middle endure trial by TV.

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni believes the new review system is flawed and was furious that his side were denied a wicket following the review.

The system, which allows teams to question an official's on-field decision, is being used for the first time in a World Cup after making its debut during the first Test between New Zealand and Pakistan in November 2009. But India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni believes the system is flawed and was furious that his side were denied a wicket following a review in their epic tie with England on Sunday.
India spinner Yuvraj Singh thought he had Ian Bell lbw on review when the batsman had made just 17, with replays showing the ball would have hit the stumps.
Bell was given not out by New Zealand umpire Billy Bowden but had started to walk off. However, the decision was returned to Bowden by Australian replay official Rod Tucker and the Kiwi deemed Bell to be too far down the pitch to be dismissed.
He was unhappy with the instruction to umpires that says if a batsman is more than 2.5 metres down the pitch he should be given not out, unless the ball would have hit middle stump.
It was not certain if Bell's middle stump would have been knocked over but Dhoni said: "If Hawk-Eye says it's good and going to hit middle stump, I see no reason why the distance matters."
Bell went on to make 69 and shared a crucial third-wicket partnership of 170 with captain Andrew Strauss.
At the World Cup, the UDRS is missing two of its vital aids -- the Hot Spot and the Snickometer.
The Hot Spot is an infra-red imaging system used to determine whether the ball has struck the batsman's bat or pad while Snickometer is used to ascertain if the ball touched the bat on its way to the wicketkeeper.
The unavailability of the Hot Spot and Snickometer means the third umpire only has the ball-tracker or Hawk-Eye, slow-motion replays and the stump microphone at his disposal.
The review system came under early scrutiny during Sri Lanka's World Cup opener with Canada.

Umpire Billy Bowden talks regarding the positioning of Indian cricketer Zaheer Khan (left) during field restrictions being in place with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni during the ICC 2011 World Cup match between England and India, at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.

Mahela Jayawardene, who scored a match-winning century, was the focus of two referrals from Canada for caught behind decisions, both of which went against the minnows.
TV replays in both cases were inconclusive and the benefit of doubt was given to the batsman.
"For us, this was the first time we were playing under that rule and our guys were not experienced with it," said Canada coach Pubudu Dassanayake. "Definitely without Hot Spot you can't take proper decisions for caught behinds."
Jayawardene, despite benefiting in the absence of Hot Spot, said later it was a concern not having it as part of the UDRS.
"They don't have Hot Spot, and that's probably the downside to it. I don't think they have Snicko either.
"You need to make sure that fair decisions are being made and we need to help the umpires especially because in the conditions it's not easy for them to make correct decisions all the time."
That the technology is not foolproof was evident once again when Australia played New Zealand in Nagpur last week.
The umpires employed UDRS to determine whether Australian skipper Ricky Ponting edged a leg-side delivery to wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum but in vain.
Former Australian umpire Darrell Hair was scathing in his criticism of the review system, calling it detrimental to an umpire's confidence.
"If the game is going to sap the confidence of umpires to that extent, where they cannot trust their own calls to be made on basic bread-and-butter decisions, then the system has failed them," he said in comments carried by the Herald Sun newspaper.
"The ICC (International Cricket Council) should be working with their umpires to give them the skills and confidence to make correct decisions on the majority of occasions.
"A review system by its very nature will uncover mistakes but management of why these mistakes occur in the first place should be the priority."

New Delhi: When India meet England in a high-profile ICC World Cup 2011 match in Bangalore on Sunday, it will not be surprising if they name a second specialist spinner in their playing eleven.

India might look to play two specialist spinners in the game against England.

Spinners have caught the eye in early matches on low, slow pitches, with Zimbabwe going to the extreme of using five slow men to make defending champions Australia struggle for runs in Ahmedabad on Monday.
The performances of Zimbabwean spinners Raymond Price, Prosper Utseya and Graeme Cremer, who conceded 127 in a combined tally of 30 overs, against a formidable batting line-up will surely encourage captains to turn to spin.
India went with three seamers and one specialist spinner ( Harbhajan Singh) in the opening game against Bangladesh, but realised they were short of one quality spinner after paceman Shanthakumaran Sreesanth leaked 53 in five overs.
They did not have to pay dearly for Sreesanth's off-day as they had already posted a massive 370 for 4, a total they successfully defended.
England skipper Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott smashed half-centuries in their team's win against the Netherlands on Tuesday, but off-spinner Graeme Swann's contribution with the ball was equally important.
Swann illustrated the significance of spin when he finished with 2/35 off 10 disciplined overs.
England will face their first big spin test against India as the hosts are likely to include either leg-spinner Piyush Chawla or off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.
"It's still very early in the tournament but India need to get their bowling sorted," former India leg-spinner Anil Kumble wrote in a newspaper column.
"If they are looking to use Sreesanth up the order, then he has to get them wickets, otherwise, they need to rethink their strategy."
Chawla, 22, has emerged a strong contender for a second spinner's slot after his match-winning performance against Ricky Ponting's Australians in a warm-up game in Bangalore where he grabbed 4/31 off nine overs.
The leg-spinner, who returned to the one-day side in South Africa after more than two years out, has already earned lavish praise from his skipper.
"A leg-spinner can really trouble batsmen. Chawla turns the odd one and has a very good 'wrong'un'. He is consistent with line and length. Also, it gives you more options," said India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
"One of the reasons for his selection was our need to have a spinner who can bat a bit. It's a bit of headache whom to play and whom not to play with the kind of talent we have in the team."
Chawla, who made his one-day debut against Bangladesh in 2007, has so far grabbed 28 wickets in 22 matches.
India also have good part-time slow bowlers in Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan and Virender Sehwag.
India are expected to go into the match with only two specialist seamers - Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel.
Captains have used spinners differently in early stages of the tournament in a bid to wrong-foot the opposition.
Zimbabwe skipper Elton Chigumbura and New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori opened the attack with a spinner in their matches against Australia and Kenya, respectively.

Bangalore: Senior India batsman Sachin Tendulkar surprised everyone when he opted to bat left handed during the team's practice session at the M Chinnaswamy stadium.

Even batting with the left hand Sachin Tendulkar can whack them a mile.

Indian cricket team, which has been camping here for their crucial ICC World Cup 2011 Group 'B' league match against England on Sunday, had a rigorous batting session at the National Cricket Academy before shifting to the stadium.
Tendulkar grabbed everyone's attention by choosing to bat left-handed with a few of his teammates and local bowlers bowling at him.
He also did not wear gloves, while all other batsmen, who faced two deliveries each, wore their cricketing gears.
Tendulkar sent the very first delivery he faced over the ropes before stepping out to hoist another six sixes, missing only one out of eight deliveries.
On Wednesday, for the second consecutive day, Virender Sehwag did not join the team for the training session while off-spinner Harbhajan Singh also skipped practice.
Pacers Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra had light training session at the NCA gymnasium to strengthen their backs.
Like Tuesday, Kirsten spent more time with youngsters such as Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli and Yusuf Pathan.

Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, now pretty old guys, 85 and 86 years old,are sitting on a park bench feeding pigeons and talking about cricket,like they do every day.
Sachin turns to Sourav and says, “Do you think there’s cricket in heaven?”
Ganguly thinks about it for a minute and replies, “I dunno. But let’s make a deal: if I die first, I’ll come back and tell you if there’s cricket in heaven, and if you die first, you do the same.”

They shake on it and sadly, a few months later, poor Sachin passes on. One day soon afterward, Ganguly is sitting there feeding the pigeons by himself when he hears a voice whisper, “Sourav…Sourav !”
Ganguly responds, “Sachin! Is that you ?”
“Yes it is, Sourav,” whispers Sachin’s ghost.
Ganguly, still amazed, asks, “So, is there cricket in heaven?” “Well,”says Sachin, “I’ve got good news and bad news.” “Gimme the good news first,”says Ganguly.
Sachin says, “Well… there is cricket in heaven.”
Ganguly says, “That’s great! What news could be bad enough to ruin that ?”
Sachin sighs and whispers, “You are going to open the innings this Friday.”

The injury woes ahead of the World Cup are swelling at rocket pace. While Australia have lost two crucial cogs of their squad in Michael Hussey and Nathan Hauritz, England have lost Eoin Morgan. All lethal blows.

Sreesanth said he doesn’t want to “mess up with god-sent opportunity”. Will he get enough chances to make the most of it?

India hasn’t been spared. Praveen Kumar has been ruled out of the tournament after failing to recover from an elbow injury which forced him to return mid-way from the ODI series in South Africa.

MS Dhoni has, time and again, expressed his fondness for the seamer, who can be unplayable in the first 15 overs when the ball is swinging under lights. Dhoni also talks fondly about Praveen’s canny variation of pace and the ability to hit the deck hard even at his far from express pace. The Indian captain feels Praveen’s is a huge loss to India, and rightly so, given that most of the matches will be day-nighters.

But as it often is, one man’s agony is another man’s joy. Santhakumaran Sreesanth was gutted after he was ignored for the marquee event. And he was entitled to feel that way because he hadn’t done much wrong to deserve the snub. However, his dream of playing the World Cup is on the verge of being realised now. He was a part of the 2007 event, which turned out to be a horror show for India.

There were questions raised on Sreesanth’s exclusion from the original squad, most notably, by former India captain Sourav Ganguly. The pacer from Kerala does bring in a hint of speed in the attack that is otherwise packed with line-and-length bowlers. Though his pace may not be rewarded with desired results on the slow sub-continental tracks, his lethal outswinger delivered with perfect seam position will be more than helpful. And though, it will be a tough ask, if he can get the white ball to reverse a bit, along with Zaheer, he can add further value.

However, while one can safely say that had Praveen made it to the World Cup, he would’ve been a surety in the playing XI, it cannot be said about Sreesanth. Dhoni has at times been averse to including the temperamental speedster, the ODI series in the Rainbow nation being the latest instance. From the attack’s balance point of view, it will not be a bad idea to give him a couple of games up-front simply because he adds spice to the attack. He will go for runs but will run in hard and look to make thing happen in unfavourable conditions.

Sri Lanka powered their way to a 210-run win against Canada on the back of Mahela Jayawardene's 80-ball century in their Cricket World Cup Group A game in Hambantota.

Jayawardene's brilliance with the bat was followed up by a bowling performance that was too hot for Canada to handle and they were bowled out for 122.