‘Lo ye final bhi gaya’ – Fans react as Apex Cricket Council announce umpires for Test Championship finals

The Indian cricket team is already preparing to face the mighty Australian challenge in the Test Championship final on June 7. Rohit Sharma’s men have reached the Test Championship finals for the second time consecutively and now hope to bring the prized mace home. Meanwhile, the Apex Cricket Council has announced the match officials for the marquee Test match.

In a recent press release, Cricket Board announced the list of five match officials including two on-field umpires. “Chris Gaffaney of New Zealand and Richard Illingworth of England have been named as the on-field umpires for the Ultimate Test, which has 12 June earmarked as a reserve day to make up for any lost time during the scheduled five days of play”, read the press release.

“Gaffaney, 48, will be standing in his 49th Test match while it will be the 64th Test for 59-year-old Illingworth, who also stood in the first WTC Final two years ago that New Zealand won with an eight-wicket victory over India in Southampton. Meanwhile, another England umpire, Richard Kettleborough, will also be officiating in a second successive WTC Final”, the apex council further informed.

Kettlebrough’s name as match official left India fans in Split

Meanwhile, a name in the list of five match officials for the prestigious Test Championship finals left Indian fans split on social media. England’s Richard Kettleborough, who will be officiating the match as 3rd umpire, apparently has not been lucky for the Indian team. India lost knockout games in the 20-20 World Cup in 2014 and 2016, the 50-over world cup in 2015 and 2019 and the Champions trophy in 2017 while Kettleborough officiated the game.

However, the Indian team has reached London for the preparation of the prestigious game. India skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Chateshwar Pujara, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav and stand-by player Yashasvi Jaiswal has started preparations in London. Notably, the player who is currently playing in the finals of IPL 2023 will reach London by 31st May.

Here are how fans react to the list of match officials: