Hawk-Eye officials have admitted that their Decision Review System (DRS) technology had erred when Pakistan’s opener Shah Masood was dismissed during the second Test against New Zealand last month, a report published by The National said.

On-field umpire Paul Reiffel had declared Masood out leg-before wicket, a decision the batsman opted to review. Masood was playing on 40 at that time and the Hawk-Eye backed Reiffel’s decision. The projection by Hawk-Eye caught many by surprise as the path of the ball did not appear to be heading towards the stumps.

The bowl was delivered by Trent Boult, left-handed bowler, who swung the ball at yorker length in to Masood, also a left-handed batsman. TV replays showed the ball pitching and carrying on with the angle, striking Masood’s back heel.

However, Hawk-Eye’s projection showed the ball pitching and then, effectively, spinning away to strike leg-stump. It was about as unlikely a path as could be for a ball of that angle, speed and length, the report said.

Pakistan and New Zealand teams were astounded by the outcome and subsequently asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) if they could meet with the Hawk-Eye officials to discuss the inconsistency in ball-tracking as well as the decision, it stated.

But the ICC had been alerted to the anomaly by its own officials as soon as the incident occurred. During a meeting in Dubai last week, Hawk-Eye acknowledged that the projection used in the broadcast was incorrect, the report said.

However, it was insisted that had the projection been right, the ball would still be touching the leg-stump and Reiffel’s decision would have been upheld. The technology officials explained that the incident “brought together a unique set of circumstances which led to an operator making an input error, which subsequently led to what TV viewers saw”, the report said.

The Pakistani team management was told that the reduced number of cameras – four were being used as opposed to six –and the fact that Masood’s bat and the square-leg umpire obscured a crucial couple of frames in the ball’s flight contributed in getting the projection wrong.

The development brought back memories of the Sachin Tendulkar dismissal during the 2011 World Cup game between Pakistan and India.

Tendulkar was given out leg-before wicket to Saeed Ajmal on 23 in the 11th over. The decision looked plumb and Tendulkar appeared to refer it hesitatingly. To everyone’s great surprise, Hawk-Eye showed the ball would have missed leg-before wicket.