Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has said he "may agree" with suggestions that India are being punished by umpires for their failure to embrace decision-making technology.
The Decision Review System (DRS) is used in all major international matches except for those played by India due to their lack of faith in the technology.
It is a stance that cost the two-time world champions on Tuesday as they lost the opening match of their five-game one-day international series against Australia by five wickets in Perth.
The contentious moment of the match arrived from George Bailey's first delivery, when he gloved a ball to Dhoni down the leg side, but was given not out by on-field umpire Richard Kettlebrough with the score 21 for two.
It was a tight decision and only the use of the replay technology confirmed that the ball did hit Bailey's glove.
But with no recourse to appeal via DRS, India were left to rue what might have been as Bailey went on to score a century and embarked on a decisive 242-run stand with his captain Steve Smith.
Afterwards Dhoni's press conference was dominated by questions regarding the DRS, most significantly when the India skipper was asked if his team "almost get punished for not using the DRS and umpires might go the other way if it is a 50-50 call".
A smiling Dhoni replied: "I may agree with you. I may agree with you."
Bailey all but confirmed his fortune when he was interviewed immediately after his dismissal, for 112, telling host broadcaster Channel Nine: "It would've been interesting to see on DRS, but we're not the team that doesn't want it."
The debate then spilled over into the post-match press conferences where Dhoni was first asked if his long-standing position on DRS had changed.
"Are you indirectly saying we are not getting decisions in our favour because we don't use DRS?" he said.
Dhoni was then asked if Bailey's reprieve had altered the course of the game.
"It could have, but at the same time we need to push the umpires to take the right decision," he said.
"You have to see how many 50-50 decisions don't go in our favour. If it always happens, then you have to take it. But I'm still not convinced about DRS."
The questions kept coming with the India skipper side-stepping queries as to whether all of his team were united against use of the DRS.
Instead the 34-year-old offered an explanation for his reasons for mis-trusting the technology.
"First DRS should ideally be the decision-making system," he said.
"There are quite a few deviations (with the DRS) and even the makers agree that there is a bit of deviation that can happen.
"Now you have to also take into account whether it was given not out or out. If it was given out it needs to touch the stump [for the decision to remain out]; if it was not out it needs to hit half the stump [to be given out]. That itself makes the variable too big. In cricket every inch, every millimetre, matters.
"The DRS should not be the umpires' decision justification system."
Source: PA
