Saeed Ajmal Compares Dean Elgar’s DRS To Sachin Tendulkar’s CWC11 Controversy

Former Pakistan bowler Saeed Ajmal has made his opinion public about the recent DRS controversy involving Dean Elgar in the Cape Town Test with India.

In the 21st over of South Africa’s second innings – the final innings of the match – Protea skipper Dean Elgar for given out lbw by umpire Marais Erasmus off Ravichandran Ashwin and the Protea skipper reviewed the call.

While it looked plumb initially to the naked eye, HawkEye showed that the ball was going over the leg stump, forcing the umpire to change his decision. This left the Indian players fuming and skipper Virat Kohli, vice-captain KL Rahul and bowler Ashwin made their frustrations heard through stump mic.

Regarding this incident, Saeed Ajmal opined that the ball was hitting the stumps, Elgar was out, as the umpire had given him, and that the HawkEye wasn’t accurate in this instance. He, however, condemned the behaviour of the Indian players and criticised them for complaining about the technology’s outcome.

Ajmal also compared this incident to a similar one: during the 2011 World Cup semi-final between India and Pakistan, Sachin Tendulkar was given out lbw by the umpire off Ajmal’s bowling. Tendulkar went for the review and the ball-tracking showed the ball sliding down the leg side.

Ajmal reflected that the Indians accepted the technology’s decision then, but are complaining now.

“I have seen Dean Elgar’s review many times. Seeing him, no one can say that the ball is going over the stump. It is clear that the ball is hitting his knees and he is out. But why is Team India raising questions? In the 2011 World Cup, when Sachin Tendulkar’s decision on my ball was reversed, then India had said that DRS is a reliable and accurate technique. Then why are they now saying that DRS technology is not reliable and correct. Simply because the verdict went against you,” Ajmal said in his recent YouTube video.

“There was no point in not giving Sachin Tendulkar out even on my ball in the 2011 World Cup. In 2011, my ball was not missing the stump in the same way as Ashwin was not doing against Elgar in Cape Town,” the former spinner added.

Here you can watch the two incidents: