We Want Umpires to be Proactive - Srinath

Mumbai: Former India pacer Javagal Srinath on Thursday asked the special three-member panel of the Cricket Board to review the domestic umpiring standards and said he wanted the match officials to be proactive in eliminating the menace of chucking.

"The power (for calling bowers with illegal delivery actions) was always with the umpires (before the practice evolved to refer them to the match referee). We want them to be proactive (on the issue)," Srinath said.

The BCCI has instructed its on-field umpires, at both junior and senior level, to call bowlers with illegal action for 'chucking' and they face a penalty if they fail to do so.

Srinath, the country's lone representative in the seven-member strong ICC match referees panel, is also a member of the three-member BCCI umpires' review panel along with former captain and ICC Elite Panel umpire Srinivas Venkatraghavan and ex-Test umpire AV Jayaprakash.

The Bangalore-based former pacer is here to conduct a seminar for domestic match referees that concludes on Friday.

"It's basically what I did three years ago (a refresher course for match referees)," he said.

A total of 57 match referees on the BCCI's roster, split into two groups, are taking part in the workshop.

"It was a very interesting day and a very useful one," said the former India player, who has switched from his coaching stint to become a match referee.