{"id":156555,"date":"2026-06-02T15:24:03","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T22:24:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=156555"},"modified":"2026-06-02T15:24:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T22:24:03","slug":"the-concept-of-crickets-udrs-originally-originated-in-sri-lanka-upali-dharmadasa-failed-to-table-it-at-icc-in-1997","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/06\/02\/the-concept-of-crickets-udrs-originally-originated-in-sri-lanka-upali-dharmadasa-failed-to-table-it-at-icc-in-1997\/","title":{"rendered":"The concept of cricket&#8217;s UDRS originally originated in Sri Lanka &#8211; Upali Dharmadasa failed to table it at ICC IN 1997"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>Sports<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p><strong>&#8220;Point Blank&#8221;<\/strong> was a prominent, hard-hitting sports journalism column written by the veteran Sri Lankan cricket writer and commentator <strong>Sa&#8217;adi Thawfeeq<\/strong>. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2023\/03\/28\/cricket-justice-drs-is-a-sri-lankan-achievement-rename-it-wdrs-weeraratna-drs\/\">1<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key Details of the Column<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Publication<\/strong>: The column was featured in the <strong><em>Sunday Nation<\/em><\/strong>, a popular weekly newspaper in Sri Lanka.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Focus<\/strong>: It primarily focused on inside stories, critical administrative affairs, and controversies surrounding Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Notable Impact<\/strong>: One of the column&#8217;s most famous installments was an interview published on <strong>June 22, 2008<\/strong>. In it, the former Cricket Board President Upali Dharmadasa admitted to Thawfeeq that the board had failed to officially table Sri Lankan lawyer Senaka Weeraratna\u2019s groundbreaking 1997 proposal to the ICC. This specific column remains a key piece of evidence cited by historians confirming that the concept of cricket&#8217;s <strong>UDRS (Umpire Decision Review System)<\/strong> originally originated in Sri Lanka. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2023\/03\/28\/cricket-justice-drs-is-a-sri-lankan-achievement-rename-it-wdrs-weeraratna-drs\/\">1<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About Sa&#8217;adi Thawfeeq<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sa&#8217;adi Thawfeeq is one of Sri Lanka\u2019s most respected and authoritative cricket journalists. Over a career spanning several decades, his work has been widely published across major local and international platforms, including: [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2023\/03\/28\/cricket-justice-drs-is-a-sri-lankan-achievement-rename-it-wdrs-weeraratna-drs\/\">1<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><em>Daily FT<\/em><\/strong> (Financial Times Sri Lanka)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>Daily News<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>ESPNcricinfo<\/em><\/strong> (as a long-standing Sri Lanka correspondent) [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ieda.ust.hk\/dfaculty\/ravi\/murali01.html\">1<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are looking for a <strong>specific article, interview, or date<\/strong> from his &#8220;Point Blank&#8221; catalog, please share more details so I can find the exact piece you need!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/share.google\/aimode\/veW36ndeZ8RMssfe9\">https:\/\/share.google\/aimode\/veW36ndeZ8RMssfe9<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>LankaWeb \u2013 Cricket Justice: DRS is a Sri Lankan Achievement<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Mar 28, 2023 \u2014 Senaka Weeraratna in fact went on to submit his proposal to the Cricket Board President Mr. Upali Dharmadasa in June 1997 request&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-2.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-156556\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Lankaweb News<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sports &#8220;Point Blank&#8221; was a prominent, hard-hitting sports journalism column written by the veteran Sri Lankan cricket writer and commentator Sa&#8217;adi Thawfeeq. [1] Key Details of the Column About Sa&#8217;adi Thawfeeq Sa&#8217;adi Thawfeeq is one of Sri Lanka\u2019s most respected and authoritative cricket journalists. Over a career spanning several decades, his work has been widely [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-156555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-senaka-weeraratna"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156555"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156557,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156555\/revisions\/156557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}