How Sharfuddoula is bucking trends and blazing trails for Bangladeshi umpires

Be honest and admit that Shakib Al Hasan kung-fu-kicking stumps comes to mind every time you hear the phrase "Bangladeshi umpire".

Shakib has often screamed at them. Charged at them with the bat held high over his head like an axe. Charged at them wearing flip-flops. The former Bangladesh captain has made the country's umpires part of cricket's pop-culture lexicon - giving weight to the notion of them as a hapless, bumbling breed, somewhat like WWE referees.

Enter Sharfuddoula Ibn Shahid. When the slim, genial umpire stood in last week's blockbuster Brisbane Test match, it was just the second time a Bangladeshi had officiated as a neutral umpire in a Test.

Sharfuddoula had a good match in Brisbane. He was also an on-field umpire in five World Cup matches in India last year, the first from Bangladesh in the tournament's history. He was also the first from the country to officiate in both formats of the women's World Cups.

But set his recent high-profile assignments aside and Bangladesh's umpiring record on the international stage is quite thin. Masudur Rahman stood in the Asia Cup final couple of years ago. Former international player Enamul Haque was the first Bangladeshi to officiate as a neutral umpire in a Test match, in 2012. The late Nadir Shah stood in an India-Pakistan final in a 2008 tri-series.

Bangladesh's umpires, however, have been in the news off and on for various scandals and controversies, and for making glaring errors. A few years ago when there were allegations of umpires being used to manipulate domestic limited-overs matches. Things came to a head in ugly fashion with Shakib kicking down the stumps in a Dhaka Premier League game in 2021 after being refused an lbw decision.

Bangladesh hasn't exactly been a country that has produced top-shelf umpires and match referees. The ICC has never been confident enough in their quality to hand them neutral umpiring assignments, and so they have usually only got home ODIs. The BCB for its part has never taken umpiring seriously enough to develop a pathway for umpires to come up through.

If you consider the extreme, in-your-face pressure the average Bangladeshi umpire has to endure in domestic leagues, particularly the DPL, you would think they would be well equipped to handle top-level pressure too. Given the right training and international experience, they could well have done far better than they have. But as things stand, Sharfuddoula remains the lone flag-bearer for Bangladeshi umpiring on the world stage.

A former left-arm spinner who played for Bangladesh in the ICC Trophy in 1994, where he took six wickets in three matches, Sharfuddoula spent a brief time working as a coach, and then joined the BCB in an administrative role. He umpired his first domestic game in 2007, and his international debut came soon after, when he stood alongside Simon Taufel in a Bangladesh-Sri Lanka ODI in 2010

He had to wait 11 years to stand in a Test match - that opportunity came due to Covid 19, which forced the ICC to appoint Bangladeshi umpires for home Tests for a while. Sharfuddoula spent the intervening years on a diet of domestic first-class, List-A and T20 matches. He also umpired Associate ODIs and stood in the men's World Cup Qualifiers (ODIs and T20Is) in 2018 and 2019.

He officiated in the women's ODI World Cups in 2017 and 2022, and the women's T20 World Cup in the West Indies in 2018, apart from several women's T20I World Cup qualifiers, starting in 2013. He also stood in the men's Under-19 World Cups in 2016 and 2020. Still, though he had a fair amount of white-ball experience, before his 2023 World Cup appearance he had made only a handful of appearances as a neutral umpire in ODIs or T20Is where both teams were from Full Member nations. And before his umpiring Test debut in 2021, his only times standing in first-class cricket overseas were from some matches in West Indies' regional competition in 2016, and in a handful of Associate first-class games.

"The World Cup was a good experience overall," Sharfuddoula said after that tournament in November. "I didn't focus too much about this being my first time in the World Cup, or me being the first from Bangladesh. I have also done nine Tests, which gave me a quite a lot of confidence during the tournament. I took it one match at a time, which resulted in having a good time."

He ended up standing in some of the more interesting matches in the tournament. He was witness to two upsets; oversaw the two fastest centuries in the tournament's history, made within three weeks of each other; and the tightest game of the league phase. Glenn Maxwell wouldn't mind having Sharfuddoula stand in his matches: the umpire was on the field when he made his 40-ball hundred, against Netherlands, and served as fourth umpire during the epic double-hundred against Afghanistan.

When I spoke to him after the tournament, the Brisbane Test wasn't on Sharfuddoula's horizon. The appointment came to pass after the strong World Cup showing. When, late last December, he was announced as one of the on-field Test umpires for the match, it was an endorsement of his quality, endurance and experience at the international level.

"I consider a Test match the real test for umpires," Sharfuddoula said. "It is the pinnacle of cricket. You are under constant pressure in that format. You have to keep making adjustments. You don't have to come back into the same game in an ODI or a T20I game. You face a new challenge every session in a Test match."

Sharfuddoula is a soft-spoken man, and those close to him know him as a practical individual. "I never go too high or too low [emotionally]," he said. "I don't get upset too easily. I think it was the way I was raised. I had to fend for myself at an early age. I listen to myself, I talk to myself. I was self-responsible growing up, so that always helps.

He said that he now has an appreciation for the differences in how umpiring is seen around the world and how it is back home. "If we make a mistake in Bangladesh, it is regarded as a sin. Error of judgement is part of life. How quickly someone can bounce back from it is very important for an umpire."

Having done just one Test in 2023, all the way back in April, having your next one be in a day-night match at the Gabba was a challenge, but it was one he looked forward to.

"I went to the World Cup with more than 100 matches under my belt, but a new experience always brings new challenges," he said. "The Brisbane Test was probably bigger for me, as Test cricket is No. 1, and it was new to me. It wasn't easy for me to go back into a Test match after eight or nine months. It was also my first game with a pink ball. But I always wanted to do a Test in Brisbane. My wife studies here, so it is one of my favourite cities in the world. It was great to do my first overseas Test there."

The World Cup was something of a change of pace for Sharfuddoula, used as he was to the pressures of Bangladesh cricket, where umpires are often blamed quite directly for match outcomes, and sometimes even become fodder for memes. So though the tournament is world cricket's biggest stage, it was a more mellow experience for him. "Home games are much more challenging, he said. "I didn't feel that in the World Cup. I enjoyed the matches there, which isn't often the case for me."

The often open hostility towards umpires in Bangladesh is one of the reasons why not many take to the profession, including former cricketers. "Whoever wants to come into umpiring or is new in the profession, must keep faith in themselves," Sharfuddoula said when asked how what advice he would give those aspiring to become officials. "You can't lose confidence. We are not always recognised for our work. Bangladesh has to change its perception about umpiring. As we keep developing our structure, more umpires can come through the process, which must also be backed by financial security."

Sharfuddoula is a great example of someone in cricket whose hard work paid off. He has made it to the men's World Cup and a Test match in Australia after years of grinding it out at the domestic and international level. Things are looking up for Sharfuddoula. Maybe it's time for Bangladesh to collectively treat cricket umpires differently.