International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Elite Panel umpires Aleem Dar and Ahsan Raza have been named as part of the officiating team for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2021.

The ICC announced the 20-member panel that includes four match referees and 16 on-field umpires for Round 1 (qualification round) and Super12 stages of the mega event that starts from October 17 in Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“The selection of a 20-strong group effectively means that for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic, there will be neutral umpires for all matches of the 16-team tournament, running from October 17 to November 17,” the ICC press release said.

Three of the 16 umpires, including Aleem Dar, South Africa’s Marais Erasmus, and Australia’s Rod Tucker, will be officiating in their sixth ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

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“The first match of the tournament, between Oman and Papua New Guinea on 17 October, will be officiated by Sri Lanka’s Kumar Dharmasena, who was one of the on-field umpires for the final of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019, alongside New Zealand's Chris Gaffaney. Ranjan Madugalle will be the match referee, with Richard Kettleborough the TV umpire and Ahsan Raza the fourth official.”

Dar and Erasmus will officiate the match between England and the West Indies – the finalists of the 2016 World Cup - with Australia's David Boon as the match referee and Chris Brown on TV duty.

The global cricket governing body said it will announce officials for the semi-finals and final of the tournament in due course.

Full list of match officials

Umpires: Chris Brown, Aleem Dar, Kumar Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus, Chris Gaffaney, Michael Gough, Adrian Holdstock, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Nitin Menon, Ahsan Raza, Paul Reiffel, Langton Rusere, Rod Tucker, Joel Wilson, Paul Wilson.

Match Referees: David Boon, Jeff Crowe, Ranjan Madugalle, Javagal Srinath.