

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has finally given a green signal to Decision Review System (DRS) for IPL 2018. (Source: IPL)

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has finally given a green signal to Decision Review System (DRS) for IPL 2018. After this decision, DRS which is used in international cricket for some time now, will make its debut in the Indian Premier League this year. This comes as an interesting development as BCCI has always maintained a stubborn stance against DRS, insisting that it is foolproof. In 2016, the board had finally agreed to use the DRS before the start of England’s India tour.

Now, a senior BCCI official has told The Indian Express that the board is set to implement DRS in IPL as well. “We have the best of all other systems in place, so why not DRS? Anyway we have been using it for India’s international matches for over a year and a half now,” the official was quoted saying in the report.

The 8th edition of the Indian Premier League is scheduled to begin on April 7. In another major development, Kings XI Punjab had recently appointed off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin as its captain. Ashwin was picked over some big names like Yuvraj Singh, Chris Gayle and Aaron Finch.

Talking about his appointment Ashwin said, “Having played international cricket for close to 10 years, I don’t think I will have an issue (handling the senior players). I am also one of them. It is a strong squad and I feel all the big names you have mentioned will play an integral role.”

Ashwin has been out of India’s limited overs’ team since the ICC Champions Trophy last year. With only 12 months to go for the ICC ODI World Cup, IPL holds key for Ashwin.

“I am not looking at this IPL for an India comeback. I go into the IPL with a mindset that I have every year. This season I have a big responsibility (captaining KXIP) and I am ready for the challenge. I am not looking for anything else. It (India comeback) will happen if it has to,” said the 31-year-old.