India ended its long-standing opposition Friday to cricket's Decision Review System (DRS), announcing it would be included on a trial basis in next month's Test series against England. The Indian cricket board's president Anurag Thakur said that its major concerns had been addressed by upgrades to the system which has been used by other Test-playing countries for the best part of a decade. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will deploy the DRS "in toto in the forthcoming series between India and England... on a trial basis to evaluate the improvements made to the system over a period of time," Thakur said in a statement. "We recognize the enhanced role of technology in sport and BCCI will lead such initiatives in coming days, and enrich the viewer experience." According to the BCCI, the significant changes to the system include the introduction of high-speed ultramotion cameras for predicting the path of the ball and Ultra Edge which will help in determining the frame of impact. India, which accounts for the lion's share of global cricket revenues, has been suspicious of the DRS since making a number of unsuccessful referrals during the 2008 Test series with Sri Lanka, when the technology was on trial. The first Test between India and England will be played in Rajkot from Nov. 9-13. India court orders BCCI to implement panel's views India's Supreme Court has told the Board of Control for Cricket in India to withhold funding from state cricket bodies until it implements recommendations of a court-appointed committee to clean up the administration of the sport. A three-man committee headed by Justin Rajendra Lodha was formed in the wake of a spot-fixing scam and alleged conflicts of interest. The court also ordered the BCCI to appoint an independent auditor to scrutinize its accounts and fix financial limits for contracts. All high-value contracts would have to be cleared by auditors, the court ruled. BCCI office bearers have also been ordered to file compliance reports to the Supreme Court within two weeks. Pune to host first Indo-Aussies Test in 2017 The western Indian city of Pune will stage its first Test when the home side plays Australia in the opener of the four-match series starting February. The Pune Test starts Feb. 23 before Australia travels to Bengaluru for the second match from March 4. Two more venues — Ranchi and Dharamshala — will also host their first Tests with the third and fourth matches of the Border-Gavaskar series. The scheduling will force some Australia players, who play all three formats, to miss a three-match Twenty20 International series against Sri Lanka at home, with the first Test in India starting a day after the final game against Sri Lanka. With Australia suffering a 3-0 thrashing in their recent test series in Sri Lanka, there have been talks about the prospect of picking specialist players for different conditions. Australia captain Steve Smith is not averse to the idea and said most current teams in the world play well only at home. — Agencies
