Blockchain in Cricket: DRS Archive, Fan Tokens and the New Ledger of Accountability

On my desk there is a match-archive file from 2026. I logged 47 DRS reviews in a domestic league; 31 were out, 16 were not out. Yet the number that stopped me was not a decision—it was the disappearance of two camera stills. That is the institutional gap blockchain now claims it can close. On March 12, 2026, the ICC announced a pilot ledger across 14 stadiums. A blockchain ledger makes entries permanent and tamper-evident. In cricket, the DRS has been operating since 2026, but the evidence has sat in broadcasters' servers, making erasure and selective editing possible. The pilot adds timestamps to every review stage. For me, the key feature is the stopwatch narrative: how long a decision takes, which frames the third umpire saw, and when the data was recorded. This turns every ruling into an audit. Fan tokens, already used by several T20 franchises, also need a transparent ledger; otherwise, they become unregulated digital gambling. The same ledger can assist anti-corruption units by pairing unusual betting volumes with exact match moments. The contrarian view is essential: blockchain does not fix bad input. If a camera angle is wrong, the error is preserved forever. It also raises infrastructure costs and creates new dependencies. For Bangladesh, the pilot at Mirpur and Chattogram is an opportunity, but the risks of centralization remain. The real value of blockchain lies not in perfect justice, but in permanent visibility. The question now is whether ICC will treat openness as a marketing phrase or as a new system of accountability.