Indian umpire Nitin Menon to officiate in 'dream' Ashes series this year

Indian umpire Nitin Menon will officiate in the historic Ashes Test series between England and Australia later this year. He is likely to become the first Indian to stand as an official in the most traditional rivalry of cricket.

Menon was inducted into the ICC's elite panel of umpires in June 2020, replacing England's Nigel Llong. He became only the third umpire from India to achieve the status after Srinivas Venkatraghavan and Sundaram Ravi.

Nitin Menon has so far stood in 18 Tests, 42 One-Day Internationals, and 40 T20 Internationals. According to a report by news agency PTI, Menon will stand as an on-field umpire in either the third or fourth Test of the 2023 Ashes.

“He (Nitin Menon) will be officiating in the Ashes,” a BCCI official told news agency PTI.

---

"My dream series will be Ashes without a doubt" - Nitin Menon

The high-octane Ashes series will be played between June 16 and July 31. The third Test will be played from July 6 to 10 at Headingley in Leeds, and the fourth Test is slated to take place at Old Trafford in Manchester between July 19 and 23.

While getting elevated to the ICC elite panel, Menon had already expressed his dream of officiating an Ashes game in an interview with PTI.

Nitin Menon had told PTI:

"My dream series will be Ashes without a doubt. That is the only series I watch on TV. The atmosphere, the way the series is fought, is something I want be involved in. Whether in England or Australia I would love to be part of it."

Menon could have got the opportunity to officiate in the last edition of Ashes (2021-22) held in Australia but due to Covid-19 pandemic, home umpires were given preference.

Adrian Holdstock, Ahsan Raza, Chris Gaffaney, Kumar Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus, Michael Gough, Paul Reiffel, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Rodney Tucker, and Joel Wilson are also part of the ICC's elite panel of umpires.