Lahore, Mar 04: Sri Lankan Ranjan Madugalle will be in the hot seat of the match referee in the historic India-Pakistan cricket series starting March 13, the Pakistan Cricket Board announced today. The PCB said Madugalle had been appointed by the International Cricket Council for the entire series, which inlcudes five one-dayers an three tests. He had also been the match referee during India's last visit to Pakistan to play three one-dayers as part of the Independence Cup in 1997. Australian Simon Taufel and Briton David Shepherd from the ICC elite umpires panel will join local umpires Asad Rauf and Nadeem Ghouri for the one-day series, the PCB said. Shepherd and Taufel will also stand in the first Test from March 28 to April 1 at Multan, while the latter will be the joined by West Indies Steve Bucknor in the second Test at Lahore from April 5 to 9.
The third and final Test at Rawalpindi will be supervised by Shepherd and Rudi Koertzen of South Africa India will arrive in Pakistan on March 10 for their first full tour here since 1989.
Bureau Report