India was on the receiving end of the decision review system when it was experimented for the first time during the first Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2008.
In the Test match played between July 23-26, former India opener Virender Sehwag went down records books to become the first batsman to be given out under the review system. Sri Lanka asked for a review after Muttiah Muralitharan trapped Sehwag but the umpire turned down the appeal. The home side, however, went for the review and was successful — although the decision was a controversial one.
Tillakaratne Dilshan was successful in challenging a caught-behind — yet another controversial decision.
The review system didn’t completely favour one side, however, as Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid were both handed the right decisions.
After the match, then skipper Anil Kumble said that the review system “is still an experiment” and that it had to be reviewed.
His counterpart, Mahela Jayawardene, however, was in support of the system. “If it wasn’t used in this Test we would probably have had four bad decisions go against us. The decisions for both Tendulkar and Dravid were tough ones for the on-field umpire,” he said.
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