An umpire walks into the ground to inspect after rain stopped play during the third day of first test cricket match between England and India, at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, England. (AP Photo) The legendary Sunil Gavaskar on Saturday gave a thumbs up to the quality of umpiring by the Englishmen in the ongoing Test series between India and England but said he would still prefer neutral umpires.
The ICC had made it mandatory to have one neutral umpire in a Test in 1994 before making it two for a match in 2002.
However, due to the travel restrictions with regards to the COVID-19 pandemic, it had temporarily allowed home umpires to officiate in all the World Test Championships matches.
“I would still want to see neutral umpires because after you exhaust your 2-3 reviews, there could still be a decision that could be game-turning,” said the former India skipper while commentating during day three of the second Test.
“To avoid the finger of bias, you should have neutral umpires.”
Gavaskar said he is happy with the on-field decisions taken by the home umpires in the ongoing series and the series in Australia in January.
“The quality of umpiring in this series (between India and England) as well as in Australia has been brilliant. Can’t say that about it during our (playing) days though,” he said.
Michael Gough and Richard Illingworth are the two on-field umpires in the second Test, while Richard Kettleborough and Chris Broad are the third umpire and match referee respectively.
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