A former member of the ICC Panel of Umpires, Amish Saheba is all set to establish a record when he officiates in his 100th first-class cricket match, at the Keenan Stadium here on Thursday. Saheba, who was adjudged by BCCI as “the best Indian Umpire” in 2009-10, will officiate the Ranji Trophy match between Kerala and Chhattisgarh.
“I am really happy to stand on the field to officiate as umpire (in) my 100th first class match to be played between Kerala and Chhattisgarh here from tomorrow,” said Saheba.
“It will be a memorable moment for me,” he said. Gujarat-based Saheba was the second Indian umpire to accomplish the feat after Suresh Shastri, from Mumbai, who had officiated his 100th first-class match in the Hyderabad-Kerala Ranji trophy encounter at Uppal in Hyderabad a couple of years ago. Shastri did umpiring in a total of 107 first-class matches.
Saheba has also officiated in three Test matches, 51 ODIs and 12 T20 matches including the 2009 T20 World Cup in England and the 2011 ICC World Cup. Having started his career as a right-hand batsman for the Under-19 Gujarat and State Bank teams, Saheba had secured first rank both in the Umpires’ examination conducted by BCCI in 1991 and thereafter the promotional exam in 2004. Saheba had represented Gujarat in Ranji Trophy between 1981-90 as a batsman.
“It was my passion for cricket that I have opted to take up umpiring despite knowing the fact that it needed one to keep on improving concentration level as well as mental agility to perform on the field,” he said.
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