Anil Chaudhary, Virender Sharma set to debut as umpires in Tests

The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced appointments of home umpires for the first two Tests between India and England, and Nitin Menon, the lone Elite panel umpire from India, will be an on-field umpire in both the games.

“International Panel umpires officiate in Tests too. Recent appointees to the Elite panel – Joel Wilson, Michael Gough and Nitin Menon — had all officiated in Tests before making it to the Elite panel. India presently has four on the International Panel,” the ICC told Cricbuzz implying that international umpires too can be considered for officiating in the Tests.

The ICC has offered Test debuts for Anil Chaudhary and Virender Sharma, both international panel umpires. While Chaudhary will be officiating in the first Test, Sharma will stand alongside Menon in the second Test.

C Shamshuddin will be the third umpire in the first Test. The 50-year-old Hyderabad umpire has also not officiated in a Test so far but television duty is not considered for official records. So, his Chennai assignment will not be counted as Test debut. Chaudhary will be the third umpire for the second Test.

Javagal Srinath is the match referee for both the games, which run from February 5 to 9 and then from February 13 to 17. The officials for the third and fourth Tests in Ahmedabad (February 24-28 and March 4-8) will be announced later, the ICC said. For all white ball games (five T20Is and three ODIs) that follow the Tests, will also have Indian umpires and appointments for these games will be made later.

The world body normally prefers neutral umpires for bilateral games but in the current situation of global pandemic and restricted travel facilities, the world body has temporarily suspended the ‘neutral umpires’ policy. For the ongoing Bangladesh-West Indies series, English umpires were flown in because of lack of sufficient qualified umpires in Bangladesh. (Cricbuzz)