The 13th edition of the ICC ODI World Cup will end on Sunday (November 19) with the final. India and Australia will meet in the final of this tournament. The two teams will meet at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad at 2:30 PM Bangladesh time. ICC has announced the names of the umpires for this match.
Richard Illingworth and Richard Kettleborough have been given duties as on-field umpires in the India-Australia match. Both from England, Kettleborough is known as ‘Unlucky’ to India.
As Richard Kettleborough took charge of umpiring in the final match, the concern of Indian cricket fans increased somewhat. Every time Kettleborough has been India’s umpire in the last few ICC events, something has gone wrong. Kettleborough was the field umpire during the World Cup (2019) semi-final and World T20 (2021) matches against New Zealand. India lost both these matches.
He was also the third umpire in the India-New Zealand semi-final match in the World Test Championship this year. Besides, Richard Kettleborough was absolutely ‘unlucky’ for India in the 2014 T20 World Cup, 2015 ODI World Cup, 2016 T20 World Cup and the knock-out phase of the 2017 Champions Trophy.
Although Kettleborough officiated at the 2019 World Cup final, Illingworth will be the match official in the final for the first time. Earlier, he was present as a player in the 1992 World Cup final.
As well as the two Englishmen, two others who served in the semis are getting a chance in the final. West Indies’ Joel Wilson, the TV umpire of the first semi-final, will also be officiating the Ahmedabad final this time. And Chris Gaffani in New Zealand, who was the third umpire of the second semi-final, will be the fourth umpire in the Ahmedabad final.
The responsibility of the match referee has been handed over to Andy Pycroft, the match referee of the first semi-final, from Zimbabwe. None of the match officials of the 2019 World Cup finals have been retained in this year’s World Cup. Kumar Dharmasena and Maray Erasmus officiated as on-field umpires. These two have not been responsible for any knockout match in this event.
And the third umpire of Lord’s final was Rod Tucker and the fourth umpire was Aleem Dar. Alim Dar retires from Elite Panel. And Rod Tucker was the on-field umpire in the first semi-final but was not in the final. Ranjan Madhugale was the match referee in the 2019 World Cup final.
(November 18/NBW)