Daily Times

The Pakistan Cricket Board has announced the match officials for HBL Pakistan Super League 9, scheduled to take place across four venues from February 17 to March 18.

A total of 14 matches would be played from February 17 to 27 across Lahore and Multan while Karachi and Rawalpindi will stage 16 matches from February 28 to March 12, said a press release. The match officials for the Qualifier, two eliminators and final, to be held in Karachi from March 14 to 18, would be announced in due course. Four members of the ICC’s elite panel of umpires – Richard Illingworth, Chris Gaffaney, Ahsan Raza and Michael Gough – would be accompanied by Abdul Moqeet, Aleem Dar, Tariq Rasheed, Shozab Raza, Rashid Riaz, Faisal Afridi, Ruchira Palliyaguruge, Asif Yaqoob, Alex Wharf, Nasir Hussain, Imran Jawed and Muhammad Asif.

Among the foreign umpires, Illingworth, who has previously officiated in six editions of the league, has served as an umpire in 48 matches in HBL PSL. England’s Gough, who has appeared in four editions previously, has officiated 34 matches, followed by Wharf (11 matches) and Sri Lanka’s Palliyaguruge (three matches). New Zealand’s Gaffaney would make his league debut, officiating his first match between Multan Sultans and Karachi Kings at the Multan Cricket Stadium in Multan on February 18. Roshan Mahanama, who has officiated 97 HBL PSL matches and was also a former member of the ICC’s elite panel of match referees, would be in his ninth successive year and will lead a team of three match referees with other members being Ali Naqvi and Muhammad Javed. The opening match between defending champions Lahore Qalandars and Islamabad United in Lahore will be officiated by veteran umpire Aleem Dar and Michael Gough on the field. Tariq Rasheed would be the TV Umpire while Shozab Raza will perform the duties of reserve umpire during the game. Muhammad Javed will perform duties of match referee in the match.