Agencies

London, Sep 10: Rahul Dravid will include his observations on umpiring during the NatWest ODI Series in captain’s report after the erroneous decision against Sachin Tendulkar cost India dearly in the seventh and deciding One-day match against England on Saturday. 

Umpire Aleem Dar’s dubious decision cut short Tendulkar’s stint at the crease and the star batsman returned to pavilion with just 30 runs to his credit in his final game at the Lord’s where India lost the match by seven wickets and the series by 3-4 margin. 

“Sachin has been in good form and he was really batting well. We needed a big partnership that didn’t happen. We’ve had some poor decisions and it’s disappointing when decisions don’t go your way in a close series such as this one,” Dravid said. 

“We have the ICC’s review committee that makes note of these things. Besides, there is the captain’s report that I will submit,” he said. 

This was not the first time that Tendulkar had been done in by poor umpiring on the just concluded tour. In the second ODI, he was ruled out at 99 and met similar fate in Tests too. 

The Indian captain, however, said he was against the use of technology in the game because it was not good enough yet. 

“Technology is just not good enough at the moment. It’s not good for fine edges, snicks or leg before decisions. But it can be used for line decisions and that’s where it should stay,” he said. 

But Dravid also said he was convinced that he was out caught behind after coming back and watching the television replays. “I didn’t feel it (the inside edge) but when I came back and had a look again, the technology suggested that I had nicked it and I have to accept it. Maybe, I didn’t feel it but I can’t argue with the snickometer,” Dravid said referring to his caught behind dismissal against Andrew Flintoff. 

Looking back on the game, he accepted that India’s batting failure led to the heavy defeat. 

“We didn’t play well. It was disappointing not to get more runs. We didn’t get the partnerships going. We should have been defending more than 187 but it was not to be. We just didn’t get enough runs. A score of around 250 would have given us a chance.” 

Dravid underlined that Flintoff ’s presence makes a huge difference to England. 

“He obviously makes a huge difference to the England side. It’s pretty obvious that he makes a huge impact.” 

Dravid signed off saying, England were the deserving winners. “The 4-3 result is a true reflection of the series. We always had our backs to the wall but we fought back well. England was slightly better side than us in the one-day format of the game,” he said. AGENCIES