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| Dilip Vengsarkar |
Calcutta: Former captain
Dilip Vengsarkar is among the five recommended by the Board
of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for possible inclusion
in the Elite Panel of Match Referees.
The panel, first constituted by the International Cricket Council (ICC) four years ago, currently has seven members. Prior to 2002, the structure was very different.
Chief Referee Ranjan Madugalle, Clive Lloyd and Mike Procter have been there from the beginning. Jeff Crowe, Roshan Mahanama, Alan Hurst and Chris Broad were added two years ago.
Incidentally, Gundappa Viswanath and Wasim Raja were part of the original (five-member) panel.
While Shivlal Yadav (35 Tests, 7 ODIs), Kiran More (49 Tests, 94 ODIs), Jawagal Srinath (67 Tests, 229 ODIs) and Robin Singh (1 Test, 136 ODIs) were recommended around a fortnight ago, Vengsarkar’s name was forwarded a couple of days back.
“Yes, we’ve added Vengsarkar? Now, the ball is in the ICC’s court,” BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah told The Telegraph on Saturday evening.
Speaking exclusively, Vengsarkar (116 Tests, 129 ODIs) revealed that the ICC had “approached” him some years ago, but he’d decided against throwing his hat in the ring.
“The BCCI wanted to recommend me earlier, too, but I had commitments as chairman of the Talent Research and Development Wing? That assignment ends on March 31 and, after that, I’ll be free,” Vengsarkar said.
While the BCCI needs to be complimented for recommending Vengsarkar, More is the (senior) selection committee chairman and Yadav is the National Cricket Academy director.
Ideally, it ought not to have forwarded the name of anybody holding any position.
The ICC, which apparently sought recommendations from all Test-playing nations, is soon going to undertake the screening-exercise.
That will be preceded by a “review” of the existing Match Referees.
Chief executive Malcolm Speed and Sunil Gavaskar,
who chairs the powerful Cricket Committee, are expected
to have the biggest say.
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