Indian vacuum to continue in the Elite Panel

The process of naming an Indian umpire in the ICC's Elite Panel has been pushed back by at least a year, after the Indian board requested more time for settling on likely candidates.

The board faced criticism in the recent past for the fact that not a single Indian umpire is represented in the Panel, with the ICC urging the BCCI to raise the quality of umpiring in the country. This prompted the board to take assistance from Microsoft to provide software solutions and device effective methods of judging the umpires' decisions starting from the Indian domestic season this October.

A three-member sub-committee, which was formed to nominate the umpires for the Panel, too requested more time saying that the domestic season will be crucial in their decision. Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary, was hopeful of nominating at least one umpire by early next year.

"Right now we are continuing with what we have", Shah told The Times of India. "We scrapped the system of 13 elite domestic umpires, and the overhaul being planned by the BCCI's umpiring committee means we might need even more time. But hopefully, we will have an umpire in the Elite Panel by early next year."

The ICC's International Panel currently has three Indians - AV Jayaprakash, I Shivram and K Hariharan, who are unlikely to make it to the Elite Panel as the ICC hasn't promised any big assignments for them. The board is now considering giving more opportunities to young umpires, provided they prove their worth in the examination for the Ranji Trophy panel on August 20. "The board might even fast-track a young umpire from the Ranji panel to the All India Panel if they feel he is top grade", said MP Pandove, the BCCI joint secretary.

S Venkataraghavan, who retired from umpiring in March 2004, is the only Indian umpire to have made it to the Elite Panel.