Elite umpire Richard Kettleborough has been named in the official list for the Test Championship final next month. The on-field umpires are Chris Gaffney and Richard Illingworth. On the other hand, Kettleborough will take care of the TV umpire, also known as third umpire responsibilities. 1996 World Cup winner, Kumar Dharmasena will be the fourth umpire.
Meanwhile, the fans aren’t happy with Kettleborough being named on the list. Apparently, he has officiated in India‘s knockout games in World Championships that they have lost. In the 2014 20-20 World Cup final, the Men In Blue lost to Sri Lanka in the final. In that game, Richard was one of the on-field umpires. The same was the case in India’s semifinal game against Australia and West Indies in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
In the 2017 Champions Trophy final, 2019 World Cup semifinal, and 2021 Test Championship final, the team lost. In these games too, Richard officiated. This time around, the Yorkshire player will be in as the third umpire.
This is how Twitter reacted
No Richard Kettleborough as an on-field umpire is already a win. But no Michael Gough this time is a surprise. Having said that, Chris Gaffaney is an excellent umpire.
— Rahul Sharma (@CricFnatic) May 29, 2023
Ketteleborough as umpire India important matches ? pic.twitter.com/Y9GvEzhJFv
— Danish (@Ecodanish) May 29, 2023
— Yash. (@UnfilteredYash) May 29, 2023
No Nitin Menon ??????pic.twitter.com/blCz9Qfofr
— Pratham¹? (@Pratham_editz) May 29, 2023
Kettleborough.. Your are present everywhere whenever we need to win an imp game. Including 2021 wtc final, 2022 ind vs nz t20 wc game. pic.twitter.com/F6PfMhXSv4
— Tom Gravestone (@Whygravestone) May 29, 2023
No Erasmus No Win for Chokli pic.twitter.com/zgMZ1xGdun
— Adeel ?? (@AdeelGhani9) May 29, 2023
Century for king kohli god hitman
— God rohit sharma fanclub (@rogoat45ro) May 29, 2023
Congratulations to Australia winning WTC ? pic.twitter.com/LP5S0M2rTL
— Sarthak Das?? (@leosarthak1705) May 29, 2023
Dur dur tak nahi hona chahiye tha Dharmasena
— Transponster Jay (@Jay_KD77) May 29, 2023
Is there Peter Dury and Ian Smith in Commentary Panel ?
— @nilSALAA"R45" (@Anilvarma43) May 29, 2023
India and Australia squads
The squads were announced a while ago. However, KL Rahul got injured during the ongoing IPL 2023 which is why he has been ruled out. Rahul has been replaced by Ishan Kishan in the team. On the other hand, Ruturaj Gaikwad, who has taken a leave due to personal engagement has been replaced by Yashasvi Jaiswal who has a good record in red-ball cricket.
The squads:
Australia: Pat Cummins (captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Josh Inglis, Todd Murphy, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner.
Reserves: Mitch Marsh, Matt Renshaw
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Ravichandran Ashwin, KS Bharat, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Axar Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Mohammad Shami, Mohammad Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadakt, Umesh Yadav.
Reserves: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav
