ICC Cricket Committee’s use of local official could be a challenge for Indian officials

Current and former officials have expressed the feeling that lack of experience, especially in Tests, will be a huge challenge for Indian officials as they set to officiate in the post-COVID-19 pandemic scenario.

This is coming in the wake of the ICC Cricket Committee’s recommendation for the appointment of local umpires and match referees in the short-term due to the ban on international travel as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It could be recalled that S Ravi was demoted from the ICC elite panel of umpires last year. This means there is currently no Indian in the premier category that can be picked as match officials for Tests.

But in the lower cadre, ICC international panel of umpires, there are four Indians there but only one of them, Nitin Menon, who has 3 Tests, 24 ODIs, 16 T20s in his record that has experience of the longest format. He has, however, not been involved in too much of high-pressure games.

The other three India officials include C Shamshuddin with 43 ODIs, 21 T20s, Anil Chaudhary with the record of 20 ODIs, 20 T20s, and Virender Sharma, and 2 ODIs and 1 T20 have no Test experience. The mentioned officials are in line to officiate a five-day game during England’s tour of India in January.

One of the stakeholders, who is a former international umpire Hariharan, with 34 ODIs and two Tests in his record, described it as a massive challenge and a great opportunity for them.

While noting that different formats come with different pressure, Hariharan said in the Tests, for instance, the close-in fielders create the pressure while the noisy crowd makes the umpires’ job tougher in limited-overs cricket.

While noting that officiating the game is not just about umpiring decisions, he mentioned other things like aggressive appealing and bad light, adding that the neutral umpires are more likely to take an unbiased call sub-consciously than local umpires.

The last time local umpires officiated in Tests was 2002, during the time of an ICC and local umpire partnership in ODIs.

Written by:  Oladipupo Mojeed