International Cricket Board retains Indian umpire Nitin Menon in the elite panel list

Indian umpire Nitin Menon has retained his spot in the Indian Cricket Board’s Elite Panel List and will make his maiden appearance as a neutral umpire in Sri Lanka later this month. An Indian Cricket Board official told PTI that Menon has acquired a one-year extension from the International Cricket Board. The 38-year-old from Indore is the sole Indian to be on the 11-member Elite Panel List. 

Menon was promoted to the elite panel at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in the year 2020. He became the third Indian to be inducted into the club after S Vengataraghavan and S Ravi. However, due to the pandemic, Menon was restricted by the International Cricket Board to officiate matches only in India with local umpires due to travel restrictions all over the world. 

As COVID-19 gradually abated, the cricket governing body has resumed normal services as Australian umpire Paul Reiffel is currently performing his duties in England’s home series against New Zealand. Menon however is in his own country for the India vs Sri Lanka series and will later travel to Sri Lanka for the home team’s two-Test series against Australia on June 29 at Galle. 

Other than Menon, there is no change in the elite panel, other members include Kumara Dharmasena from Sri Lanka, Aleem Dar from Pakistan, Marais Erasmus from South Africa, Joel Wilson from the West Indies, Chris Gaffaney from New Zealand, Paul Reiffel and Rod Tucker from Australia and  Michael Gough, Richard Illingworth and Richard Kettleborough (all from England).

The Indian Cricket Board assigns whom to include in the Panel of Umpires. Presently, four Indians are in the lower tier of the list namely Anil Chaudhary, K N Ananthapadmanabhan, Virender Sharma, and J Madanagopal.