V Jayadevan, the Thrissur-based engineer who developed the VJD System for calculating target scores in interrupted limited-overs cricket, has written to International Cricket Council (ICC) chief Sharad Pawar asking for an independent assessment of his work.
He insists a 'neutral' comparison with the prevalent Duckworth-Lewis Method will prove the superiority of his calculations. "Ever since its introduction in 1998 at the international level, the Duckworth/Lewis Method has come under criticism. Even in its 14th year, however, it continues to be implemented by ICC," Jayadevan's letter says.
Last week, the ICC cricket committee rejected the VJD Method again, leading to former India captain Sunil Gavaskar suggesting in his TOI column that the panelists were biased and that Jayadevan was being discriminated against.
In the letter, Jayadevan talks about his 12-year-old fight to highlight inadequacies in the official D/L Method. Giving his own version of the politics behind cricket's complicated mathematical formulae, Jayadevan writes, "In 2005, as directed by ICC, an expert conducted a comparative study of both systems and submitted a report favouring D/L. The report...was full of factual errors. The natural inclination of the reviewer was also very apparent, and I pointed these discrepancies out to the ICC.
"Mr David Richardson, the ICC's general manager (cricket), found some valid points in my argument and invited me to Hong Kong for a presentation of my alternative system. The expert I mentioned earlier was again a member on the panel that heard my presentation. When I was pointing out the errors in the D/L system, the expert was getting visibly annoyed. I felt as if he had not come as a referee but as a spokesman for the D/L.
"After the presentation, the panel entrusted the same expert to make a comparative study between VJD System and a modified system (Wincoda 3.0) that Duckworth and Lewis were going to submit. I expressed my unhappiness over engaging the same person to do the study again, but the ICC assured me that it would take unbiased decisions."
Jayadevan insists the "unbiased decision" never came to pass. Talking about the recent rejection of his method, he says, "I had requested Mr Richardson to invite me for the recent ICC cricket committee meeting because the other expert was on the committee and would do everything possible to defend his report on what is a very technical subject.
"I feel that it is the responsibility of the ICC to implement the best available system for the cricket community. I humbly request you to take necessary steps to get the two systems evaluated by a neutral person, an expert neither from India nor from England," Jaydevan requests Pawar.
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