{"id":157379,"date":"2026-07-19T15:56:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T22:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=157379"},"modified":"2026-07-19T15:56:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T22:56:43","slug":"cricket-is-neither-a-religion-nor-a-sport-it-is-a-halfway-house-between-the-two-for-most-cricket-fans-in-sri-lanka-india-pakistan-bangladesh-and-the-rest-of-south-asia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/07\/19\/cricket-is-neither-a-religion-nor-a-sport-it-is-a-halfway-house-between-the-two-for-most-cricket-fans-in-sri-lanka-india-pakistan-bangladesh-and-the-rest-of-south-asia\/","title":{"rendered":"Cricket is neither a Religion nor a Sport.\u00a0 It is a halfway\u00a0house between the two for most cricket fans in\u00a0Sri Lanka,\u00a0India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the rest of South Asia."},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>AI Overview<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Cricket is neither a Religion nor a Sport.&nbsp; It is a halfway&nbsp;house between the two for most cricket fans in&nbsp;Sri Lanka,&nbsp;India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the rest of South Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In particular, any narrative on History of Cricket in Sri Lanka must acknowledge not only the great competitors on the playing field but also the great innovators off the field i.e., beyond the boundary. The concepts of the &#8216; Third Umpire&#8217; and &#8216; Player &#8211; Referral &#8216; (DRS) &#8216; have transformed the game of Cricket phenomenally. Both these revolutionary breakthroughs have Sri Lankan origins. Moments of Pride for Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sri Lankan ingenuity has profoundly shaped the modern game. Off the field, visionaries from the island pioneered two of cricket\u2019s greatest officiating breakthroughs: the <strong>Third Umpire<\/strong> system and the <strong>Player-Referral<\/strong> mechanism, both of which have permanently transformed how global sports are officiated. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/05\/31\/sri-lankas-greatest-contribution-to-development-of-cricket-has-come-not-from-excellence-in-the-use-of-the-bat-and-ball-on-the-playing-field-but-with-the-use-of-the-mighty-pen-beyond-the-boundary-of\/\">1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/04\/11\/player-referral-system-in-sports-finest-example-of-sri-lankan-ingenuity-of-global-proportions\/\">2<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sundaytimes.lk\/260215\/sports\/cricket-lovely-cricket-the-mother-of-all-rivalries-in-asia-631718.html\">3<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1. The Third Umpire (TV Replays)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Innovator:<\/strong> Mahinda Wijesinghe (Sri Lankan cricket writer and researcher)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Concept:<\/strong> In the early 1980s, Wijesinghe proposed utilizing independent television cameras and walkie-talkies to assist on-field umpires. Instead of guessing on tight line calls, the on-field umpire could consult a colleague seated in front of a monitor.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Global Impact:<\/strong> After years of proposals, the ICC officially adopted this framework, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Thisara_Perera\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Third Umpire<\/a> made its global debut in the 1992 Test series between South Africa and India. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/05\/31\/sri-lankan-ingenuity-in-cricket-reform-such-as-player-referral-drs-and-third-umpire-matches-ingenuity-of-powerful-western-nations-at-global-level\/\">1<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2. The Player-Referral System (DRS)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Innovator:<\/strong> Senaka Weeraratna (Colombo-based lawyer)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Concept:<\/strong> Driven by judicial principles, Weeraratna argued that if technology exists to spot umpiring errors, players must have the right to appeal to correct them. He formalized the framework of the &#8220;Player Referral&#8221; system in March 1997, featuring player-initiated appeals, a limited number of reviews per innings, and the Third Umpire as an appellate authority.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Global Impact:<\/strong> The ICC trialled this concept in July 2008 during a Test match in Colombo, eventually rolling it out worldwide as the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Umpire_Decision_Review_System\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Decision Review System (DRS)<\/a> in 2009. Its core concept\u2014empowering athletes with challenges\u2014has since expanded to sports like tennis and soccer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>These intellectual contributions highlight Sri Lanka&#8217;s massive off-field impact on the integrity, fairness, and technological advancement of the sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Would you like to explore:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Tactical innovations<\/strong> brought to the field by Sri Lanka (like the 1996 World Cup opening batting strategies)?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <strong>evolution of technology<\/strong> in cricket?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Details on the <strong>legal\/intellectual journey<\/strong> of the Player-Referral idea?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/share.google\/aimode\/ak9z2EuDVDbqU6KhE\">https:\/\/share.google\/aimode\/ak9z2EuDVDbqU6KhE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>AI Overview<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sri Lanka\u2019s journey to Test status EARLY PERIOD (upto 1957) &#8211; Part 1 &#8211; by Alston Mahadevan<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>Sri Lanka\u2019s journey to Test status EARLY PERIOD (upto 1957) &#8211; Covers the development during the early years including the regular visits by Australia and England and the first tours by the West Indies, Pakistan and India. Also looks at some of the outstanding Ceylonese cricketers including Dr C H Gunasekara, Sargo Jayawickreme, F C de Saram, M Sathasivam, by Alston Mahadevan<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Sri Lanka\u2019s journey to Test status EARLY PERIOD (upto 1957) - Part 1 - by Alston Mahadevan\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UcPkBrL_Rtw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>AI Overview<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AI Overview Cricket is neither a Religion nor a Sport.&nbsp; It is a halfway&nbsp;house between the two for most cricket fans in&nbsp;Sri Lanka,&nbsp;India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the rest of South Asia. In particular, any narrative on History of Cricket in Sri Lanka must acknowledge not only the great competitors on the playing field but also [&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-157379","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\/157379","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=157379"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":157380,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157379\/revisions\/157380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}