With big Test comes big opportunity for Indian umpires

At a time when positive news remains smothered under the blanket of a deadly pandemic, an unprecedented opportunity has presented itself to four Indian umpires.

Nitin Menon, Anil Chaudhary, C Shamsuddin and Virender Sharma are the benefactors of the International Cricket Council’s latest ruling as they stand to cover more international games.

“Every opportunity counts,” said Menon, who is the only one among the four to have stood in Tests. “This is great news for us. The others on the panel haven’t yet done Test matches and this is their chance. It’s a great platform for us to graduate to the Elite Panel. We haven’t had anyone on the Elite Panel since S Ravi and that was a year ago,” he pointed out.

On Wednesday, the ICC’s CEC approved a number of recommendations from the Anil Kumble-chaired Cricket Committee and among them was the ruling to temporarily suspend the requirement to appoint neutral umpires.

“The requirement to appoint neutral match officials will be temporarily removed from the playing conditions for all international formats owing to the current logistical challenges with international travel,” the ICC statement read. “The ICC will be able to appoint locally based match officials from the Emirates ICC Elite Panel of Match Officials and the Emirates ICC International Panel of Match Officials.”

Pre-Covid-19, only umpires from the Elite Panel covered Tests, while one of the three umpires (two on-field and the one third umpire) was a local umpire in ODIs. Three local umpires were in charge of T20Is.

It must be noted that these four umpires have come under the scanner often for poor calls during the Indian Premier League and other domestic tournaments in India.

“It is a great chance for Indian umpires to show that we are as good as international umpires,” said AV Jayaprakash, a former international umpire. “I know it doesn’t sound like a lot because until January we don’t play Tests, but umpires from the International Panel rarely get a chance like this. It’s a very cumbersome process, understandably so, to make it to the Elite Panel.”

India’s immediate assignment at home is against the visiting England in three One-Day Internationals and three Twenty20 Internationals. India don’t play Tests until January of 2021 and that comes with the five-Test series against England.

“Let’s see when we get more information,” said an apprehensive Virender Sharma. “We may only get a clear picture after the lockdown, but sure it would be great if we get more matches.”

The ICC also announced that they were banning the use of saliva and the on-field umpires will have to monitor these moments. They also need to disinfect the ball should someone use saliva, making an already difficult task even harder.

“It’s a challenge, but we will have plenty of assistance from those who get to cover the upcoming England-West Indies series. It’s a process. We have to be patient and do the best we can,” said Menon.

Jayaprakash opined that it would be a difficult proposition, even with video assistance, to officiate games in the future. “It used to be tough, but I feel like there’s more on the line now. People are paying attention to every move by an umpire now. Monitoring saliva application is an added pressure."