The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was struggling to convince the umpires from International Cricket Council’s Elite Panel to officiate in the upcoming 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 to be held in the United Arab Emirates from 19th September to 10th November.
It is being said that the BCCI has chosen a total of 16 umpires from ICC's Elite Panel to officiate in the IPL 2020, but they were not so keen to stand in the money-spinning league in the UAE.
However, the Indian board has finally managed to convince 4 out of the 16 selected umpires from the ICC's Elite Panel to officiate in the IPL, revealed a source to ANI.
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Nitin Menon is the only Indian umpire in the list from the Elite Panel was picked among three other overseas umpires to officiate the biggest T20 carnival in the UAE later this month.
The three overseas umpires are New Zealand’s Chris Gaffaney, England’s Richard Illingworth, and Australian Paul Reifel while the rest are Indian umpires.
A source told ANI on Thursday (September 3): “There are four from ICC’s Elite Panel who have been selected to officiate in the tournament. The rest are Indian umpires. We are looking to bring in the umpires in the UAE around September 10.”
Meanwhile, it is being said that the BCCI is still trying to convince more umpires from the Elite Panel for the IPL 13. Javagal Srinath is the only match referee from the Elite Panel to be present in the IPL 2020.
The other officials are International Panel umpires Anil Chaudhary, C Shamsuddin, Virender Sharma, KN Ananthapadmanabhan, and former Elite Panel umpire S Ravi with 12 of them will be deployed for on-field and TV umpire duties, while three will only be assigned to the job of the fourth umpire.
(With ANI Inputs)
