Bangladesh umpire Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid Saikat continued in his role as the third umpire for the third and final ODI between India and New Zealand in Indore on Sunday, despite ongoing tensions between the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) over security concerns for the T20 World Cup 2026.
For the third ODI at the Holkar Stadium, the match officials panel featured KN Ananthapadmanabhan and Richard Illingworth as on-field umpires, Sharfuddoula Saikat
as the third umpire, Rohan Pandit as the fourth umpire, and Javagal Srinath as the match referee. The BCCI made no changes to the officiating panel despite the recent India-Bangladesh row during the U19 World Cup handshake controversy.
The tension between the two boards has been further triggered by Bangladesh’s request to the ICC to move its T20 World Cup 2026 matches out of India, citing security concerns. However, the ICC has confirmed that Saikat, being an ICC-contracted umpire, does not require clearance or a No Objection Certificate from the BCB to officiate matches in India. BCB Umpire Department Chairman Iftekhar Rahman clarified that Saikat is automatically released for ICC duties and that the Bangladesh board has no authority to stop him from officiating.
Meanwhile, at the toss in Indore, India captain Shubman Gill won the toss and elected to bowl. Gill cited the advantage of chasing at a traditionally high-scoring venue, even though the Men in Blue had previously posted totals of 385 and 399 while batting first at the Holkar Stadium. India made one change, bringing in Arshdeep Singh for Prasidh Krishna, while New Zealand named an unchanged XI from the Rajkot ODI.
India:
Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj
New Zealand:
Devon Conway, Henry Nicholls, Will Young, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Hay (wk), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell (C), Kristian Clarke, Kyle Jamieson, Zak Foulkes, aJayden Lennox
