DRS in Cricket Explained: Reviews, Ball-Tracking and Umpire’s Call

By Imdad Khan · October 6, 2026

DRS in cricket is the Decision Review System, the technology-assisted process that lets a team challenge an on-field umpire’s decision. The captain (or the batter, if they are the one given out) makes a “T” sign within 15 seconds, the third umpire studies replays, ball-tracking and edge-detection, and the original call is either upheld or overturned.

That’s the short version. The longer one involves review limits, the much-debated “umpire’s call”, the difference between player reviews and umpire reviews, and a few quirks that still catch out experienced fans. This guide covers all of it, with real examples from Tests and white-ball cricket.

Key facts

Each team gets 3 unsuccessful reviews per innings in Test cricket and 2 per innings in ODIs and T20 internationals (as of October 2026).
A review must be signalled within 15 seconds of the decision.
If a decision stands only because of “umpire’s call”, the team keeps its review.
Ball-tracking (usually Hawk-Eye) judges LBWs; UltraEdge or Real-Time Snicko listens for edges.
The DRS was officially launched in a Test between New Zealand and Pakistan in Dunedin in November 2009.
Umpires can refer some decisions themselves, such as run-outs, stumpings and front-foot no-balls, without it costing anyone a review.

What DRS in cricket actually is

Before the Decision Review System, the on-field umpire’s word was final. If a batter nicked one and the umpire missed it, tough luck. If a ball pitched outside leg stump and the finger still went up, the batter walked off muttering and the highlights shows ran the replay for days.

The DRS changed that by giving players a limited number of challenges. It isn’t a replay of every ball. It’s a safety net for the obvious howler, built around the idea that the on-field umpire still makes the first decision and that technology only overturns it when the evidence is clear.

The system was trialled in a Test series between India and Sri Lanka in 2008 and officially launched by the ICC in November 2009, in the first Test between New Zealand and Pakistan at the University Oval in Dunedin. It arrived in one-day internationals in 2011 and later spread to T20 internationals. For years its use depended on the series, the broadcaster’s budget and, famously, whether India agreed to it. Today it is standard in men’s international cricket and in big tournaments and leagues such as the IPL.

Who can ask for a review

A player review can only be requested by the fielding captain (when a batter is given not out) or by the batter who has been given out. The request is the “T” sign made with both forearms. A batter can confer with their partner at the non-striker’s end, and a captain usually consults the bowler and wicketkeeper, but nobody else can call for it. Signals from the dressing room are not allowed.

There is a strict 15-second window from the moment the umpire gives the decision. Watch any Test and you’ll see the drama of it: bowler pleading, keeper shrugging, captain staring at the big screen that, by regulation, isn’t supposed to show the replay before the decision is made.

How many reviews each team gets

The number of reviews depends on the format. The key word is “unsuccessful”. A team only loses a review when the original decision stands and the review was not saved by umpire’s call.

Format	Unsuccessful reviews per innings	Notes
Test matches	3	Raised from 2 during the pandemic and kept since. No top-up after 80 overs.
ODIs	2	Per team, per innings.
T20 internationals	2	Same as ODIs.
IPL	2	Can also be used for wides and waist-high no-balls.

Older fans may remember the “top-up” rule in Tests, where reviews were reset after 80 overs. That was scrapped in 2017, the same year the ICC decided that an umpire’s call result would no longer cost a team its review. The extra Test review arrived in 2020, when travel restrictions meant home umpires were standing in their own countries’ matches, and it stayed.

Which decisions can be reviewed

Players can review any decision that results in, or could have resulted in, a dismissal. In practice that means four types dominate:

LBW, by far the most common, because so many small details decide it.
Caught, especially faint edges to the keeper or bat-pad catches close in.
Caught off the glove, where the question is whether the glove was on the bat handle.
Not out decisions where the fielding side is sure they had their man.

You can’t use DRS to argue about a run, a boundary call that didn’t involve a catch or (in international cricket) a wide. The IPL is the notable exception: since 2023 it has allowed teams to review wides and waist-high no-balls, which says a lot about how expensive a single extra ball can be in T20.

Umpire reviews versus player reviews

Not every trip to the third umpire uses up a review. On-field umpires can refer certain decisions themselves: run-outs, stumpings, whether a catch carried, boundary catches and whether the bowler overstepped. Front-foot no-balls are now monitored by the TV umpire as a matter of routine in international cricket.

One big change came in 2023, when the ICC scrapped the “soft signal”. Before that, an umpire sending a low catch upstairs had to say what they thought had happened, and the third umpire needed conclusive evidence to overturn it. Plenty of grassed-looking catches stood because of it. Now the third umpire simply makes the call from the replays.

The technology behind the Decision Review System

DRS isn’t one gadget. It’s a toolkit, and the third umpire uses whichever pieces fit the question being asked.

Ball-tracking

Ball-tracking is the part everyone recognises: the animated red ball heading towards a digital set of stumps. Hawk-Eye is the best-known provider and uses several high-speed cameras around the ground to map the ball’s path up to the point it hits the pad, then projects where it would have gone. Some boards have used rival systems such as Virtual Eye.

The prediction is the key word. Ball-tracking shows where the ball pitched and where it hit the pad with real precision because those things happened. The final section, the bit after the pad, is an estimate. That’s why umpire’s call exists.

Edge detection

To check for a nick, the third umpire uses sound-based tools such as UltraEdge or Real-Time Snicko. These sync stump microphone audio with the slow-motion pictures, so a spike in the waveform as the ball passes the bat suggests contact. A flat line with daylight between bat and ball says no edge.

Hot Spot, the infra-red camera that shows a white mark where the ball touches the bat, was hugely popular when it arrived and is still used in some series. It has never been used everywhere, partly because of cost, and there were long-running claims that tape on the edge of the bat could hide faint touches.

Replays

Plain old slow-motion replays still do much of the work. Did the ball carry to slip? Was the batter’s bat grounded before the bails came off? Did the ball hit the glove while it was on the handle? Often the best evidence is simply a good camera angle.

Umpire’s call explained

Umpire’s call is the most misunderstood part of DRS in cricket, so it’s worth taking slowly. It only applies to LBW reviews, and it reflects one principle: technology has to show the umpire was clearly wrong before the decision is overturned.

The third umpire looks at three things in order:

Pitching. Did the ball pitch outside leg stump? If so, it’s not out, full stop. There is no umpire’s call on this part.
Impact. Did the ball hit the pad in line with the stumps? If the batter was playing a shot and the impact was outside off stump, it’s not out.
Wickets. Would the ball have gone on to hit the stumps?

For impact and wickets, there’s a margin. If less than half the ball is in line at impact, or less than half the ball is hitting the stumps (within a defined zone that now runs up to the top of the stumps), the result is shown as “umpire’s call”. In that case, the original decision stands, whichever way it went.

So the same delivery can produce two different outcomes. If the umpire gave it out and the ball is clipping the bails, it stays out. If the umpire gave it not out, it stays not out. That feels odd to some fans, but it’s deliberate. The tracking projection isn’t perfect, and giving the benefit to the on-field umpire stops tiny margins from deciding Test matches.

Why umpire’s call keeps the review

Since 2017, a team that reviews and gets an umpire’s call result doesn’t lose the review. The logic is that the challenge wasn’t wrong: the evidence was simply too close to overturn the decision. Before that change, captains often lost reviews on deliveries that technology said were hitting the stumps, which felt harsh.

The edge between out and not out

Distance matters too. When a batter is struck a long way down the pitch, the projection has much further to travel, so the regulations treat those predictions more cautiously and umpire’s call becomes more likely. That’s one reason spinners win more LBWs against batters on the back foot than against those who plant a big stride down the track.

Recent changes to DRS rules

The ICC tweaks the DRS regulations fairly often. The playing conditions brought in for the 2025 to 2027 World Test Championship cycle, and from July 2025 in white-ball cricket, included a few changes worth knowing.

Caught, then LBW. If a batter is given out caught and reviews, and the replays show no edge, the third umpire then checks LBW. If ball-tracking shows umpire’s call on that LBW, the batter stays out, because the original on-field decision was “out”. Previously that usually ended in a not out verdict.
Reviews in order. When more than one review is needed on the same ball, they are dealt with in the order the events happened. If an LBW appeal comes before a run-out attempt and the LBW is given out, the ball is dead and the run-out check doesn’t matter.
Catches off no-balls. The third umpire can now check whether a catch taken off a no-ball was clean, which affects whether runs scored while the batters were crossing count.

Rules can change again, so the ICC playing conditions remain the place to check the exact wording for any series.

Famous DRS moments

Some of the best stories about the Decision Review System are about reviews teams didn’t have.

At Trent Bridge in 2013, Stuart Broad edged Ashton Agar to slip via the keeper’s gloves and was given not out by Aleem Dar. Broad stood his ground. Australia had already used up their reviews, so there was nothing they could do, and England went on to win the Test by 14 runs. It became the defining argument for using reviews wisely.

Six years later at Headingley, Australia burnt their last review on a speculative LBW shout against Jack Leach. Moments later, in the closing stages of the chase, Nathan Lyon trapped Ben Stokes on the pads with a delivery that looked very close. Joel Wilson said not out, Australia had nothing left, and replays suggested it would have been given. Stokes finished on 135 not out. You can relive that innings on our Ben Stokes Headingley 2019 highlights page.

Some moments sit at the edge of what DRS can do. In the 2019 World Cup final, the overthrow that deflected off Stokes’s bat and ran away for four was a scoring decision rather than a dismissal, so it was never something the players could review. The story is on our England vs New Zealand 2019 World Cup final page.

How captains use DRS tactically

Reviews are a resource, and the best captains treat them that way. A few patterns come up again and again.

Trust the keeper on edges, the bowler less on LBWs

Wicketkeepers are usually best placed to judge line and to hear a nick. Bowlers, understandably, think almost everything is out. Many captains will lean on their keeper’s view for LBWs and caught-behinds, and only go upstairs on a bowler’s say-so if the delivery looked plumb from slip as well.

Protect the last review

With one review left, captains get cautious, especially late in an innings when a top-order batter might still be at the crease. Wasting it on a lower-order tail-ender can be costly, as Australia found at Headingley.

The batter’s point of view

Batters have their own calculation. A top-order player given out LBW to a ball they think pitched outside leg should almost always review. A tail-ender is often told not to burn a review that a specialist might need later. In white-ball cricket, the non-striker’s opinion matters a lot, because they have the clearest side-on view of the line.

Late-innings gambles

Because reviews reset each innings in all formats, there’s little point saving one for the final over. Fielding sides will often take a punt with their last review in the closing stages, figuring there’s nothing to lose.

Common myths and mistakes about DRS

“The third umpire decides every review from scratch.” Not quite. For LBWs and most edge decisions, the third umpire needs clear evidence that the on-field decision was wrong. That’s the whole point of umpire’s call.

“A ball clipping the stumps is always out.” Only if the on-field umpire gave it out. If the original call was not out and the tracking shows less than half the ball hitting the stumps, it stays not out.

“Ball-tracking shows exactly where the ball would have gone.” It’s a projection with a margin of error, which is why the umpire’s call zone exists. It’s very good, but it isn’t footage of something that happened.

“The dressing room can tell the players to review.” Not allowed. Any sign that a player has been prompted from off the field can lead to the review being refused.

“You can review a wide.” Not in international cricket. The IPL allows it, which is why the idea has spread among fans.

“Umpire’s call means the umpire guessed.” It actually means the umpire made a call that the technology couldn’t clearly prove wrong. Plenty of those decisions are excellent ones.

DRS and the LBW law

DRS didn’t change the LBW law itself. It just gave everyone a better way to apply it. The ball still has to pitch in line or outside off stump, the impact still has to be in line (unless the batter offered no shot), and the ball still has to be going on to hit the stumps.

What DRS did change is how umpires work. Since its arrival, umpires have become more willing to give LBWs on the front foot, particularly to spinners, because they know a clear mistake can be corrected. That has shaped modern batting, especially in Asia, where batters have learned to play more with the bat and less with the pad. Many of the defining spells in the World Test Championship era have featured LBWs that might once have been turned down.

Frequently asked questions

How many DRS reviews do teams get in Test cricket?

As of October 2026, each team gets three unsuccessful reviews per innings in Tests. If a review succeeds, or the decision stands only because of umpire’s call, the team keeps it.

What does umpire’s call mean in DRS?

It means the ball-tracking evidence is too close to overturn the on-field decision, for example when less than half the ball is hitting the stumps. The original decision stands, and the reviewing team keeps its review.

Who can ask for a DRS review?

Only the batter who has been given out, or the fielding captain when a batter has been given not out. They must signal within 15 seconds.

Can you use DRS for a wide or a no-ball?

Not in international cricket, where front-foot no-balls are checked by the TV umpire anyway. The IPL lets teams review wides and waist-high no-balls.

When was DRS first used?

It was trialled in India against Sri Lanka in 2008 and officially launched by the ICC in the Dunedin Test between New Zealand and Pakistan in November 2009.

Does DRS use Hawk-Eye?

Usually, yes. Hawk-Eye is the most common ball-tracking system, while UltraEdge, Real-Time Snicko and sometimes Hot Spot help with edges.

DRS has made cricket fairer without taking the umpire out of the game, and its biggest moments are often about a review a team didn’t have. For more of those knife-edge finishes, head to our classic highlights collection or browse the latest from the cricket hub.