Saikat, Sohel to officiate in T20 World Cup

Bangladesh cricket team may have been replaced by Scotland in the upcoming T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, but two Bangladeshi umpires will be part of the umpiring panel for the 20-team tournament, scheduled to begin on February 7.

Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid Saikat, the only elite panel umpire from Bangladesh, will be joined by Gazi Sohel in the 24-member umpiring panel to officiate 55 matches in the tournament.

Both umpires are expected to fly for Dubai on Friday night before heading to the match venues in India and Sri Lanka. 

A press release from the International Cricket Council disclosed the full list of umpires for the month-long tournament. 

Kumar Dharmasena and Wayne Knights will be the on-field umpires for the opening match between Pakistan and the Netherlands at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground on February 7 it said. The appointments for the Super Eight and knockout stages will be confirmed in due course.

Elsewhere on the opening day, Nitin Menon and Sam Nogajski will be in the middle for the Group C clash between Scotland and the West Indies. India and USA match on the same day will be officiated by Paul Reiffel and Rod Tucker.

Match Referees: Dean Cosker, David Gilbert, Ranjan Madugalle, Andrew Pycroft, Richie Richardson and Javagal Srinath.

Umpires: Roland Black, Chris Brown, Kumar Dharmasena, Chris Gaffaney, Adrian Holdstock, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Wayne Knights, Donovan Koch, Jayaraman Madanagopal, Nitin Menon, Sam Nogajski, KNA Padmanabhan, Allahuddien Paleker, Ahsan Raza, Leslie Reifer, Paul Reiffel, Langton Rusere, Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid, Gazi Sohel, Rodney Tucker, Alex Wharf, Raveendra Wimalasiri and Asif Yaqoob.