MUMBAI – The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) may have reservation over playing bilateral series against Pakistan and may have reservation against inviting Pakistani players for the IPL matches, but the two umpires from subcontinent are certain to figure in the next IPL season in India, it is learnt here.
According to the top sources in the BCCI, two Pakistan umpires Aleem Dar and Asad Rauf are likely to officiate in the IPL IV. Both Dar and Rauf are on the ICC’s Elite Panel. Interestingly, Dar is the first Pakistan umpire to be part of the Emirates ICC Elite Panel. He has also been the winner of the LG ICC Umpire of the Year award twice in a row: 2009 and 2010. Dar, 42-year-old, had made his international umpiring debut in an ODI at Gujranwala in 2000 at the age of 31.
Asad Rauf, 54-year-old, was inducted into the ICC’s Emirates International Panel of Umpires in 2004 and was promoted to the ICC Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires in 2006.
Both the umpires have figured in the World Cup and will again officiate in the coming World Cup matches, to be hosted in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
So far, no match-referee from Pakistan is short-listed for the IPL matches though, in the past, Talat Ali did figure in the BCCI-run IPL matches. There is no referee from Pakistan on the current ICC’s Elite Panel either.
All the umpires and match-referees who have been assigned the matches during the forthcoming World Cup are scheduled to attend a two-day seminar in Dubai, two weeks prior to the commencement of the CWC 2011.
“They are to discuss the playing conditions and technology,” the Dubai-based source told this scribe. The UDRS technology, which is being opposed by the BCCI, is likely to be implemented at the later stage, if not for the preliminary matches in the World Cup,” the source further added – Nation
