BCCI launches umpiring overhaul

India have asked three former Test umpires to help improve the standard of its officials after the International Cricket Council (ICC) failed to include an Indian in its elite panel.

A committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has recommended that an existing quota of 13 top domestic umpires be scrapped. Each will now have to take fresh written tests and prove himself in matches.

"Our umpires committee met and we've taken very positive steps to encourage more cricketer-turned-umpires," Board secretary Niranjan Shah said.

On Wednesday, Dave Richardson, ICC general manager-cricket, urged the Indian board to address the umpiring issue.

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"Whoever does well is going to move forward," Richardson said. "It is a challenge for the BCCI to see that Indian umpires make it to the elite panel."

The panel of three former Test umpires, ex-skipper Srinivas Venkatraghavan, V.K.Ramaswamy and S.K.Bansal, would help shortlist the names of six umpires to be forwarded to the ICC and Asian Cricket Council panels, Shah said.

The BCCI will also invite an ICC panel umpire to give lectures to their Indian counterparts.