‘Bhagwan bachaye inn teams ko’ – Fans react as Nitin Menon, Kumar Dharmasena set to take umpiring charges during England vs New Zealand ODI World Cup match

As England is set to defend their title against nine other teams in the upcoming ODI World Cup 2023, Apex Cricket Council have announced the list of match officials for each game. According to the press release India’s Nitin Menon and Sri Lanka’s Kumar Dharamsena will be on field Umpires for the first match of the tournament.

The first game will be played between defending champions England and last year’s finalists New Zealand. The inaugural match will take place at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on October 5. Along with Dharamsena and Menon, TV umpire Paul Wilson and match referee Javagal Srinath will be the other officials. Shahid Saikat will be the fourth umpire for the game.

This game will be very important for both Menon and Shahid. Menon who is the youngest umpire on the list will be standing in his first World Cup game while Shahid will become the first-ever Bangladeshi umpire to judge a World Cup game. Apart from them Ahsan Raza, Adrian Holdstock, Wharf and Chris Brown are also making their debut as Umpire in the tournament.

Apex Cricket Council has released full list of umpires

Talking about other high voltage games i.e. India vs Pakistan senior umpires Richard Illingworth and Marais Erasmus will officiate the game. Richard Kettleboroughset will be the TV umpire in the high-pressure clash. It’s worth noting that 16 umpires have been selected for the upcoming ODI World Cup. Out of those 14 have officiated in last year’s T20 World Cup.

Bangladeshi umpire Shahid Saikat and Australian umpire Alex Wharf will be participating in their first-ever World Cup. Out of 16 umpires, four were part of the 2019 World Cup’s final game. They have been called back for the prestigious tournament. It’s worth noting that all four match officials are former International players and have a great experience.

Here is how fans react to list of umpires: