Venkat, Hampshire to officiate in first Test against Zimbabwe

Former India skipper Srinivas Venkatraghavan and Englishman John Hampshire are the two umpires for the first Test between India and Zimbabwe, in Delhi from November 18-22.

Vijay Chopra will be the third umpire while B S P Rao (both from Delhi) will be the reserve umpire.

Steve Dunne of New Zealand and former Karnataka Ranji player A V Jayaprakash will officiate in the second Test at Nagpur from November 25-29. The third and reserve umpires will be named later, BCCI executive secretary Sharad Diwadkar announced in Bombay on Wednesday.

R Radhakrishnan of Tamil Nadu and A Y Gokhle of Bombay are the two umpires for the first three-day warm-up match between Zimbabwe and India 'A', at Indore from November 8-10.

Dr M S Mahal of Punjab and Sanjeeva Rao of Madhya Pradesh will officiate in the second three-day tie against Board Presidents XI, at Faridabad from November 13-15.

Mail Cricket Editor