Richie Richardson named Match Referee for remaining India v Australia Tests

The match officials for the remaining two Tests of the India v Australia Border-Gavaskar Trophy have been named recently. Former West Indies skipper Richie Richardson has been named as the Match Referee for the two fixtures.

The third Test kicks off on March 16 at Ranchi and the final Test of the tour will commence on March 25 at Dharamsala. The series stands equally poised with both sides having a win under their belt.

The visitors had the first laugh when they thoroughly outplayed the hosts in the first Test at Pune. The hosts then came back strong in the Bengaluru Test to level the series after a batting collapse of Australia in the second innings.

Interestingly, the match referee’s job will not be easy. This can safely be said after having seen what transpired in the previous Test. Considering the high intensity of the series, the tempers are expected to soar high and the players are bound to get into banters on field.

Thus, Richie Richardson is now expected to give a brief talk to both the captains, Steve Smith and Virat Kohli, ahead of the third Test at Ranchi. The DRS fiasco that involved Aussie skipper Steve Smith has definitely heated up the things and thus Richardson will have his work cut out for the series. A joint statement by the respective country boards, CA and BCCI, has confirmed the same.

The statement said, “the two captains will meet prior to the Ranchi Test and commit to lead their teams by example and play the rest of the series, in the right spirit, demonstrating that the players from both teams are true ambassadors for their respective countries.”

The umpires for the third Test would be Ian Gould (from England) and Chris Gaffaney (from New Zealand) along with Nigel Llong (from England) as the third umpire. In the final Test, Marais Erasmus (From South Africa) will officiate with Ian Gould. Chris Gaffaney will be the third umpire.