This year’s IPL season is going to be smarter. In this year’s IPL tournament, a new system called ‘Smart Replay System’ will be started instead of the ‘DRS’ system. This will help the umpire’s decisions to be more accurate.
The IPL season will begin on March 22 with the match between defending champions Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore. This IPL season will see a new system called ‘Smart Replay System’. A ‘Smart Replay’ system will be introduced to bring speed and accuracy to decisions in the tournament.
To implement the ‘Smart Replay’ system, eight high-speed cameras of Hawk-Eye will be installed at various locations on the ground. These cameras are going to be different from the cameras that are currently used to telecast live matches. Two hawk-eye operators will also sit where the TV umpire sits. The things captured by this camera will be seen in the form of a ‘Smart Replay’ system. In this process, the TV Broadcast Director who till now acted as liaison between the Hawk-eye operator and the third umpire will not be involved.
The ‘Smart Replay System’ will allow TV umpires to analyze more photos than ever before. To give an example, the fielder took a catch on the boundary. In that case, the umpire will be able to see the fielder’s feet and hands on a split-screen at the moment the ball is caught with the help of the new system. which was not available in the present system. The system allows the third umpire to see the precise view of any moment of the match and give the right decision.
Eight hawk-eye cameras are deployed at any given match. Two are placed on either side of the field on the straight boundary line and two are placed squarely on either side of the wicket. Until IPL 2023, Hawk-eye cameras were mainly used for ball tracking and ultra-edge. It was therefore used by the broadcaster for any ‘on-field referrals’ other than leg and bat edge checks.
Earlier the ECB has tested a similar referral system in ‘The Hundred’. The BCCI organized a two-day workshop for selected umpires on the new system in Mumbai. Around 15 umpires, including Indian and foreign umpires, will work with the ‘Smart Replay System’ during the IPL starting from March 22.
