Abhishek Sharma speaks to Haris Rauf of Pakistan during the Asia cup match between India and Pakistan at Dubai International Stadium on September 21, 2025 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo/Getty Images)

Elite Panel umpire Nitin Menon will officiate in his fourth T20 World Cup, while fellow Indian Anantha Padmanabhan will make his first appearance at an ICC event. The tournament will be held in India and Sri Lanka from February 7.Menon is the only Indian on the ICC Elite Panel and had earlier officiated at the T20 World Cups in 2021, 2022 and 2024. Another Indian official, J Madanagopal, has also been named in the list and will take part in his second T20 World Cup.On the opening day of the tournament, Menon will stand in the middle along with Sam Nogajski for the Group C match between Scotland and the West Indies. Menon was part of the on-field umpiring team for the first semi-final of the 2024 T20 World Cup between Afghanistan and South Africa. Nogajski, in the previous edition, officiated in four group matches, including India’s game against the United States.Menon is currently officiating in the ongoing T20I series between India and New Zealand. On Saturday, he will complete 150 international matches as an on-field umpire across formats, becoming the first Indian to reach the milestone.For the Group A match between Pakistan and the Netherlands in Sri Lanka on February 7, Kumar Dharmasena and Wayne Knights will be the on-field umpires. Dharmasena, a former Sri Lanka off-spinner and a member of the 1996 ODI World Cup-winning team, has officiated in 37 T20 World Cup matches, including the finals in 2016 and 2022. This places him fourth on the all-time list for matches officiated in the tournament.Knights will be appearing in his first T20 World Cup and will complete 50 T20Is as an on-field umpire during the Group A match in Colombo.The ICC said appointments for the Super Eight and knockout stages will be announced later.Rod Tucker leads the list of umpires with the most matches officiated in T20 World Cups, with 46 so far. The Australian will reach 50 matches during the tournament and will officiate games including England vs Nepal, India vs Namibia and South Africa vs the United Arab Emirates.Chris Gaffaney and Richard Illingworth, who stood together in the 2024 final, will officiate the Group B match between Australia and Ireland on February 11. Illingworth will also be on-field, along with Dharmasena, for the India vs Pakistan match in Colombo on February 15.A total of 24 officials will serve as on-field umpires during the group stage. Other officials include Richard Kettleborough, Ahsan Raza, Langton Rusere and Adrian Holdstock.Match Officials at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026Match Referees:Dean Cosker, David Gilbert, Ranjan Madugalle, Andrew Pycroft, Richie Richardson, Javagal Srinath.Umpires:Roland Black, Chris Brown, Kumar Dharmasena, Chris Gaffaney, Adrian Holdstock, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Wayne Knights, Donovan Koch, Jayaraman Madanagopal, Nitin Menon, Sam Nogajski, KNA Padmanabhan, Allahuddien Paleker, Ahsan Raza, Leslie Reifer, Paul Reiffel, Langton Rusere, Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid, Gazi Sohel, Rod Tucker, Alex Wharf, Raveendra Wimalasiri, Asif Yaqoob.