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KARACHI, March 3: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) sprang a surprise on Wednesday when it nominated virtually unknown Syed Zamir Haider as TV umpire in three of the eight international matches of the ground-breaking series between Pakistan and India.
Zamir, a 41-year-old from Lahore now in his fourth season as a first-class umpire with only 23 matches under his belt, was named to monitor the TV replays during two day/night One-day Internationals at Rawalpindi and Lahore and the third and final Test, also scheduled for Rawalpindi.
Zamir is also slated to supervise India's only warm-up tie of the 40-day tour, a one-day fixture at Lahore on March 11, along with Asad Rauf. Given the importance and the interest surrounding the first full series between the two South Asian neighbours on Pakistan soil since more than 14 years, the PCB has abruptly overlooked the credentials of senior and respected officials Mian Aslam, Salim Badar and Riazuddin who had also represented Pakistan on the ICC panel of umpires.
Zamir, who also went to India for the tri-series 'A' tournament at Kolkata last December along with Asad Rauf, did not supervise any of the matches in the recent Patron's Trophy/Cup. So much so, he had been allotted just two matches by the PCB in the ongoing Quaid-i-Azam Trophy/Cup.
The ICC has nominated Sri Lankan former Test skipper Ranjan Madugalle as the match referee after last week appointing elite panel umpires Englishman David Shepherd, Simon Taufel of Australia, West Indian Steve Bucknor and Rudi Koertzen of South Africa for the Pakistan-India series.
Match schedule with postings of umpires:
March 11: Warm-up match at Lahore (Umpires: Asad Rauf and Zamir Haider).
March 13: First ODI at Karachi (Umpires: Simon Taufel and Nadeem Ghauri; TV umpire: Asad Rauf; Reserve umpire: Afzaal Ahmed).
March 16: Second ODI at Rawalpindi (D/N) (Umpires: Simon Taufel and Asad Rauf; TV umpire: Zamir Haider; Reserve umpire: Iqbal Butt).
March 19: Third ODI at Peshawar (Umpires: David Shepherd and Nadeem Ghauri; TV umpire: Asad Rauf; Reserve umpire: Iqbal Butt).
March 21: Fourth ODI at Lahore (D/N) (Umpires: Simon Taufel and Asad Rauf; TV umpire: Nadeem Ghauri; Reserve umpire: Iftikhar Malik).
March 24: Fifth ODI at Lahore (D/N) (Umpires: David Shepherd and Nadeem Ghauri. TV umpire: Zamir Haider; Reserve umpire: M. Nazir Jr).
March 28-April 1: First Test at Multan (Umpires: David Shepherd and Simon Taufel. TV umpire: Asad Rauf. Reserve umpire: Salim Badar).
April 5-9: Second Test at Lahore (Umpires: Steve Bucknor and Simon Taufel. TV umpire: Nadeem Ghauri. Reserve umpire: M. Nazir Jr).
April 13-17: Third Test at Rawalpindi (Umpires: David Shepherd and Rudi Koertzen. TV umpire: Zamir Haider. Reserve umpire: Siddique Khan).
