S Ravi replaces Aleem Dar for India-South Africa ODI series

Sundaram Ravi India Cricket
S Ravi, who was set to officiate in the Second Test between Pakistan and England, will now remain back in India.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has named Sundaram Ravi, a member of the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires, as the replacement for Aleem Dar for the remaining two ODIs between India and South Africa, The Dawn reported. Dar was withdrawn from the series on Monday in the aftermath of threats issued by the Shiv Sena.

With the final ODI scheduled to be held at Mumbai on October 25th, the ICC had taken the decision to withdraw the Pakistani umpire from the last two matches as they felt he wouldn’t be able to perform to the best of his abilities.

"Under the present circumstances, it will be unreasonable to expect from Aleem that he will be able to perform his duties to the best of his abilities. As such, he has been withdrawn and his replacement will be announced in due course," an ICC spokesman said.

S Ravi, who was inducted into the ICC’s Elite Panel earlier this year, becoming the first Indian umpire after S Venkatraghavan to be handed the honour, has now been named as replacement considering the fact that he is in currently in India. He was due to fly to the United Arab Emirates shortly to officiate in the second Test between Pakistan and England which begins on October 22nd but will now stay back.

“Due to the close proximity of fixtures Sundaram Ravi, a member of the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires, had previously been selected for the Pakistan versus England series, but will now stand in the fourth ODI between India and South Africa in Chennai on Thursday,” the ICC said in its official statement.

The statement went on to clarify that Cricket South Africa have agreed to let two Indian umpires officiate in the match under the special circumstances.

“Because of exceptional circumstances, both the BCCI and CSA have agreed that two Indian umpires will stand in this game.”

As a result, Bruce Oxenford and Paul Reiffel, who were the on-field umpires in the opening Test between England and Pakistan which ended in controversial circumstances as the game was called off due to bad light with the visitors only 25 runs away from a famous victory, will continue to exercise the duties for the second Test as well which starts in Dubai on Thursday, while Chris Gaffaney has been named as the TV umpire.

The third and final Test will see Oxenford and Gaffaney performing the on-field duties, with Reiffel named as TV umpire.

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