In an unusual turn of events, the second day of Ranji Trophy final between Saurashtra and Bengal in Rajkot saw only one official umpire on the field.

See Also: Bengal coach rates the Rajkot pitch for the final as "very poor"

During the opening day of the summit clash on Monday (March 9), umpire Chettithody Shamsuddin got injured after being struck by a ball which was lobbed towards him at the fall of a wicket. The injury was so severe that Shamsuddin couldn’t take the field at the start of play on Day 2.

The unfortunate circumstances meant KN Ananthapadmanabhan was umpiring from both ends to start proceedings on the second day. Although Piyush Kakkar was deployed as only the square-leg umpire, he hasn’t had much officiating to do.

The designated third umpire for the marquee final is Sundaram Ravi. However, he wasn’t able to take the field because of the added responsibility of looking at DRS calls, among other things.

Usually, Ranji Trophy games have only two umpires, with the match referee doing the job of third umpire as well. In games that are being telecasted live, a third umpire is added to the officiating team.

In case, an on-field umpire gets injured or unwell, an official, who plays the role of a liaison officer for the umpires and referee through the course of the match, is asked to perform the job of a square-leg umpire. This person is generally a local umpire and is employed for the match by the state association.

(Inputs from Scroll.in)