Kumar Sangakkara reckons Sri Lanka were 'handicaped' by the lack of a referral system in the series defeat to India.
But India skipper Dhoni not in favour of system
Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara reckons his side were 'handicapped' by the lack of a referral system in the series defeat to India.
Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara reckons the series defeat to India could have been prevented had the referral system been in place.
Sangakkara's claims come after his side slumped to a 2-0 loss in the final Test in Mumbai and dropped two places to fourth in the International Cricket Council's rankings, while their conquerors will end the year as the world's top team.
But the Sri Lanka skipper felt that India's three-Test series success came courtesy of some fortunate decisions as opener Tillakaratne Dilshan was controversially dismissed in both innings of the Mumbai match.
Replays showed Dilshan had every reason to feel hard-done-by and Sangakkara is in favour of the referral system which would have kept his star batsman at the crease.
"This series is probably the best advertisement for having the review system," Sangakkara said.
"When decisions cost us over 500 runs and a lot of wickets, it always puts lots of pressure on any side.
Handicap
"Not to have the review system when every other side in the world is playing with the system and when the ICC said all sides would play with the review system, it becomes an extra handicap.
"That handicap cost us a huge amount of runs in this Test and in the previous match in Kanpur."
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who missed the series in Sri Lanka when the system was trialled last year, indicated he was not in favour of the system.
"I think it is very difficult to say anything on it as I have not played in a single series that had the review system," he said.
"But I don't think it is 100% foolproof. It is not like a vehicle which is 100% bulletproof.
"If you are travelling in one of those vehicles, you would want it to be either 100% bulletproof or nothing at all.
"You don't want to try something that's not foolproof."
The referral system is in use for West Indies' tour of Australia currently in progress but has been heavily criticised by players from both teams.
