Things to look forward to from DRS

#3 Hot Spot

Hot spot can detect edges (Image Courtesy: globalcricketcommunity)

Hot Spot is an infra-red imaging system used to determine if the ball has struck the batsman’s bat or pad. Two infra-red cameras on opposite sides of the ground above the field of play records the images.

Any suspected nick or bat/pad event can be confirmed by using the infrared image which shows a bright spot where the ball has made contact. This technology is used to enhance the decision-making accuracy of the on-field umpires, mostly in the case of leg before decisions or caught behind appeals.

Although Hot Spot has aided in making some tough calls, more often than not, it has created controversy. In the 2011 India-England series, Michael Vaughan accused Indian batsman VVSLaxman of applying vaseline to the edge of his bat to deceive Hot Spot. Rahul Dravid also fell victim to the inability of the technology to detect an edge thrice on the same tour.

Similar incidents took place after that which made this infra-red imaging system a point of debate.

With the introduction of UltraEdge, it remains to be seen whether Hot Spot will be required in future. This system can be used to assist UltraEdge.

Things will become crystal clear soon, as Hot Spot will not be used in the upcoming Test series between India and England and all the decisions will be made with the help of UltraEdge.

New DRS rules have already proved its worth and with so much cricket being played, it will be interesting to see whether it fulfils all the expectations. Fans will hope that cricket will be in the news for its entertainment and unpredictability and not for controversy related to DRS as has been the case before.