A+ Category for Umpires, a new level for umpires that has been instituted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Nitin Menon has been assigned to the newly created category along with 9 other officials. He is now the lone Indian on the ICC Elite Panel.

Four international umpires, Anil Chaudhary, Madangopal Jayaraman, Virender Kumar Sharma, and K N Ananthapadmabhanan, are part of the BCCI’s newly established A+ grade of officials. Additionally included in this group are Rohan Pandit, Nikhil Patwardhan, Sadashiv Iyer, Ulhas Gandhe, and Navdeep Singh Sidhu.

Following the work done by former international umpires K Hariharan, Sudhir Asnani, and Amiesh Saheba, as well as members of the BCCI umpires’ subcommittee, the full list was presented during the Apex Council meeting on Thursday.

For a first-class game, umpires in the A+ and A categories are paid Rs 40,000 per day, while those in the B and C categories are paid Rs 30,000 per day. Although the list was described as a “gradation of umpires,” a BCCI representative explained to PTI that the board has established groups and not gradings.

The official said, “It is not grading. There are groups with A+ being a new category. A+ and A, one can say form the cream of Indian umpires. Umpires in the B and C categories are also good.

“When it comes to assigning duties across domestic events starting at the top with Ranji Trophy, preference will be given group-wise. The grouping has been done after reviewing the performances of the 2021-2022 season.”

Further questions on more Indian umpires joining the ICC Elite Panel were posed to the Board of Control for Cricket in India official, as there is now only one Indian umpire on the panel.

To which he said, “We put too much emphasis on the elite panel. Only England has three umpires in the elite panel, Australia has two, and the rest only one. You can only have so much there. The focus should be on improving the standard of umpiring at all levels”

Considering the other categories of BCCI umpires, there are 20 officials in Group A, 60 officials in Group B, 46 officials in Group C, and 11 officials in Group D, which includes officials aged 60 to 65. At the Thursday Apex Council meeting, the complete list of the umpires was placed on the table.