IPL 2020: 15 umpires and 5 match officials tests negative for COVID-19

All the 15 umpires and 5 match officials have tested negative and are ready to officiate in the much awaited 13th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL 2020) starting on September 19 in UAE.

The 20 match officials underwent the mandatory COVID-19 tests as per the requirements of the UAE government. The match officials were earlier tested on landing at the Dubai airport and was tested on the first, third, and the fifth days of their six-day quarantine period, and they all have returned negative results, a Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) source told IANS.

One team of these officials is lodged in Abu Dhabi and the other in Dubai. The Abu Dhabi team will officiate in 20 league matches to be played at Sheikh Zayed Stadium while the other team is a larger one and these officials will officiate in 24 league games in Dubai and 12 in Sharjah.

The 20 member team includes 12 Indian umpires, three international umpires and 5 match referees.

The 12 Indian umpires are Anil Chaudhary, C. Shamshuddin, Virender Sharma, K.N. Ananthapadmanabhan, Nitin Menon, S. Ravi, Vineet Kulkarni, Yashwant Barde, Ulhas Gandhe, Anil Dandekar, K Srinivasan, and Pashchim Pathak. And the three non-Indian umpires are Richard Illingworth of England, former Australian speedster Paul Reiffel, and Christopher Gaffaney of New Zealand.

And all five match referees are Indians and are Javagal Srinath, Manu Nayar, V Narayan Kutty, Shakti Singh, and Prakash Bhatt.