World T20 2016: Match officials announced, 6 Indians picked

Bengaluru, Feb 25: India's 5 umpires and 1 match referee have been picked by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to officiate in the next month's World Twenty20 2016 tournament.

World T20 schedule and squads; Umpires named for India-Pakistan game

Former India fast bowler Javagal Srinath has got the honour of being the match referee for the World T20 opener on March 8. Zimbabwe and Hong Kong will face off in the first match.

Today (February 25), ICC named 24 umpires and 7 match referees for World T20. "The strong Playing Control Team includes all the 7 and 12 members of the Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees and Elite Panel of ICC Umpires, respectively, as well as 10 members of the International Panel of ICC Umpires and two members of the ICC Associate and Affiliate Panel of International Umpires," ICC said in a media release on Thursday.

Anil Chaudhary, Vineet Kulkarni, CK Nandan, Ravi Sundaram and Chettithoday Shamshuddin are the 5 Indians umpires set for World T20. Among these, 4 (Chaudhary, Kulkarni, Nandan and Shamshuddin) are are making their World T20 debuts.

The umpires' panel includes two female umpires - New Zealand's Kathleen Cross and Claire Polosak of Australia. The two were also involved in the ICC Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier 2015 in Thailand.

The 7 Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees hold a combined experience of 113 World T20 matches between them.

"Srinath will earn the distinction of referee in the 8 March tournament opener between Zimbabwe and Hong Kong in Nagpur. He will lead the Playing Control Team, which also includes Aleem Dar and Ian Gould as on-field umpires, Marais Erasmus as TV umpire and Richard Illingworth as fourth umpire," ICC said.

Umpires Johan Cloete, Kathleen Cross, Simon Fry, Chris Gaffeney, Michael Gough, Ruchira Palliyaguruge, Claire Polosak and Joel Wilson are also set for their World T20 debuts.

Here is the complete list of match officials for World T20

Match referees (7) - David Boon, Chris Broad, Jeff Crowe, Ranjan Madugalle, Andy Pycroft, Richie Richardson and Javagal Srinath

Umpires (24) - Anil Chaudhary, Johan Cloete, Kathy Cross, Aleem Dar, Kumar Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus, Simon Fry, Chris Gaffaney, Michael Gough, Ian Gould, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Vineet Kulkarni, Nigel Llong, Ranmore Martinesz, CK Nandan, Bruce Oxenford, Ruchira Palliyaguruge, Claire Polosak, Paul Reiffel, Chettithody Shamshuddin, Ravi Sundaram, Rod Tucker and Joel Wilson.

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