DRS will not be forced on India - Richardson

Dave Richardson: "The introduction of technology has
always been controversial".

Dave Richardson, the ICC's new chief executive, has said that India would not be forced into accepting the universal application of the Decision Review System (DRS). The BCCI has been the sole objector to making DRS mandatory in international cricket and the ICC's Executive Board decided not to put the issue to a vote on Tuesday.

In his first day on the job, as the successor to Haroon Lorgat, Richardson said that while the majority of players and umpires back the DRS to rule on marginal or controversial decisions, India could not be dragged "kicking and screaming" to comply. The ICC's failure to enforce the universal application of DRS means it will only be used in bilateral series when both national boards agree to it. 

"The point is that the BCCI need to make that decision for themselves," Richardson said at the close of the ICC's annual conference in Malaysia. "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. 

"I don't think [the Executive Board's 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 resistance to DRS stems from their 2008 Test series with Sri Lanka, when the technology was on trial. N Srinivasan, the BCCI president, has said that the system would only be supported when it was "100 percent error free".

Richardson said: "The bottom line is, the ICC board determines policy for the ICC going forward. I don't think my job will involve any special negotiations with India. A lot is made of that but there are ten full members and I think our task is a lot more simple and a lot more practical than these high-level talks you might imagine." 

As well as Richardson succeeding Lorgat, Alan Isaac, the former chairman of New Zealand Cricket, has taken over as ICC president for a two-year term, succeeding Sharad Pawar. The ICC has voted to make the presidency a ceremonial position from 2014, with power passed to the new position of chairman.