It’s not just players and support staff who are raking in extra moolah from the IPL, but umpires too are getting a lucrative deal. Whereas the on-field umpires are paid `60,000 for officiating in a four/five-day domestic fixture, they get as much as `1.75 lakh a match in the IPL. Even a fourth umpire makes `25,000 per match.
Moreover, for the first time since the first IPL, Indian umpires have been given prominent roles, whereas previously foreign umpires were favoured.
Presently, there are as many as 20 Indian umpires doing various roles. While the top 10 umpires are given the chance as on-field and third umpires, the others are assigned duty as fourth umpires. Moreover, the umpires needn’t worry that their excellence would go unnoticed, as Simon Taufel, the umpires’ performance and training manager, would be assessing them. And, Taufel has been mostly standing with an Indian umpire this IPL.
Experts reckon it won’t be long before India reclaims its representation in the elite panel of ICC Umpires, vacant since S Venkataraghavan retired in 2004.