'Bemused' Ben Stokes calls for massive rule change after England's Rajkot humiliation

England suffered one of the biggest defeats in their Test cricket history against India in the third Test on Sunday. A humiliating loss of 434 runs in Rajkot saw Ben Stokes and Co. trailing the five-match series 2-1. Meanwhile, the England skipper has called for a massive rule change in the game, insisting it was no excuse for their defeat.

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Stokes is not impressed with the "umpire's call" in the Decision Review System (DRS) and raised the need for the rule to be scrapped. His comment was prompted by the controversial dismissal of opener Zak Crawley in the second innings when England were chasing a mammoth target of 557. Crawley was sent back to the pavilion in the ninth over after being trapped LBW by pacer Jasprit Bumrah.  

The on-field umpire gave the ‘soft signal’ as out, but the batter sent the decision upstairs. The replay showed the delivery was just missing the edge of the leg stump. However, DRS indicated that the umpire should stick with his call. 

“We just wanted some clarity around Zak’s DRS when the images came back,” Stokes told talkSPORT.

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“The ball is quite clearly missing the stump on the replay. So when it gets given umpire’s call and the ball’s not actually hitting the stumps, we were a bit bemused. We just wanted some clarity from Hawk-Eye. It came back saying the numbers were saying that it was hitting the stumps but it was the projection that was wrong. I don’t know what that means. Something’s gone wrong.”

Stokes makes it clear that the intention is not to blame DRS for their loss

Notably, it was the second time Crawley has been subjected to a similar fashion dismissal in the series. The right-hander was adjudged LBW against left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav in Visakhapatnam. Stokes insisted that he is not blaming the technological 'error' for his side's loss but personally feels the 'umpire's call' should be taken away. 

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“We’ve been on the wrong end of three umpire’s calls this game and that is part of DRS. You’re either on the right side or the wrong side. Unfortunately, we’ve been on the wrong side. I’m not saying and never will say that’s the reason why we’ve lost this game, because 500 is a lot of runs," the 32-year-old added.  

“It is not something you pin down to result of the game. Sometimes when you are on the wrong end of those decisions it hurts but that is part of the game. You want them to go your way, sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. You just want a level playing field. The umpires have an incredibly hard job as it is, especially in India when the ball is spinning. My personal opinion is if the ball is hitting the stumps, it is hitting the stumps. They should take away ‘umpire’s call’ if I’m being perfectly honest. I don’t want to get too much into it because it sounds like we are moaning and saying that is why we lost the Test match," he concluded.