ICC named the match officials for the T20 World Cup 2026 group stages on Friday, and a host of Indians made the cut in the list. The tournament will be played in India and Sri Lanka jointly from Feb 7, and a list of six match referees and 24 umpires was announced.
Kumar Dharmasena and Wayne Knights will be the umpires in the opening match of the T20 World Cup, which is all set to feature Pakistan and Netherlands, in Colombo. Meanwhile, the match officials for the Super 8 and knockout stages will be announced later on.
Feb 7 will also see Scotland take on the West Indies in the afternoon game, and Nitin Menon and Sam Nogajski will be the on-field officials for that clash. And for the India clash, Rod Tucker and Paul Reiffel will be on the field. What is interesting is, that as many as four Indians will officiate in the group stages of the tournament; Javagal Srinath, Nitin Menon, Jayaraman Madanagopal, and also KNA Padmanabhan.
Not to forget, there will be a couple of Pakistanis as well; Asif Yaqoob, Ahsan Raza. Bangladesh will have representation from Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid, Gazi Sohel.
T20 World Cup match officials
Match Referees: Dean Caosker, David Gilbert, Ranjan Madugalle, Andrew Pycroft, Richie Richardson and Javagal Srinath.
Umpires: Roland Black, Chris Brown, Kumar Dharmasena, Chris Gaffaney, Adrian Holdstock, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Wayne Knights, Donovan Koch, Jayaraman Madanagopal, Nitin Menon, Sam Nogajski, KNA Padmanabhan, Allahuddien Paleker, Ahsan Raza, Leslie Reifer, Paul Reiffel, Langton Rusere, Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid, Gazi Sohel, Rodney Tucker, Alex Wharf, Raveendra Wimalasiri and Asif Yaqoob.
