Indian officials to not be present at the Champions Trophy as Javagal Srinath and Nitin Menon won’t undertake assignments in Pakistan.
Indian officials will not be present at the Champions Trophy with two of the likeliest candidates having excused themselves from travelling to Pakistan.
It is believed that Nitin Menon, one of the ICC’s elite panel umpires, and Javagal Srinath, one of the most active ICC match referees, “mutually agreed” with the ICC that they would not officiate any matches during the tournament’s Pakistan leg.
Additionally, it automatically excludes Indian match officials because all of the matches in Dubai will include India and call for neutral officials. All ICC events have been officiated by neutral officials, while the former fast bowler Srinath is now supervising India’s bilateral white-ball matches versus England.
After lengthy talks, a hybrid format was developed that allowed India to play all of their matches, including the semi-final and the final, should they qualify, in Dubai, even though Pakistan is still the Champions Trophy’s official host. Pakistan will be subject to the same rule in the forthcoming ICC events hosted by India during the current cycle, when all of their matches will take place at a neutral location.
ICC Umpire of the Year Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Michael Gough, Paul Reiffel, Chris Gaffaney, and Kumar Dharmasena are among the twelve umpires on the panel. The only umpire from Pakistan on the list is Ahsan Raza.
Sean Easey, the ICC senior manager – umpires and referees, said: “We always try to name the most suitable and deserving officials for any event, and we are confident this group will do a fine job across the matches in Pakistan and the UAE.”