T20 WC: Rauf, Taufel to officiate India's opening match

The ICC on Sunday announced the names of umpires and match referees who will officiate in the group stage of the Twenty20 World Cup to be held in Sri Lanka from September 18 to October 7.

The match referees' responsibilities for the men's tournament will be shared among Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka), Jeff Crowe (New Zealand) of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees and Graeme La Brooy of the ICC Panel of Regional Referees.

Graeme La Brooy (Sri Lanka), who will officiate in just two matches of the men's competition -- on September 21 and 23 in Pallekele -- will then travel to Galle to oversee women's group stage which will take place from September 26 to October 1.

The on-field responsibilities will be shared by all the 12 umpires from the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires -- Billy Bowden, Aleem Dar, Steve Davis, Kumar Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus, Ian Gould, Tony Hill, Richard Kettleborough, Nigel Llong, Asad Rauf, Simon Taufel and Rod Tucker -- who will be joined by Bruce Oxenford of the Emirates International Panel of ICC Umpires.

India's first match in the competition -- against Afghanistan at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on September 19 -- will have Asad Rauf and Simon Taufel as on-field umpires while Aleem Dar and Kumar Dharmasena will be the third and fourth umpires. Madugalle will be the match referee for the match.

India's second match against England at the same venue on September 23 will see Aleem Dar and Simon Taufel officiating as on-field umpires. Kumar Dharmasena and Asad Rauf will be the third and fourth umpires while Madugalle will officiate as the match referee.

For Madugalle, who has overseen 46 T20Is to date, it will be his fourth successive ICC World Twenty20 after he also refereed in the 2007, 2009 and 2010 events in South Africa, England and the West Indies, respectively while for Crowe, it will be his second ICC World Twenty20 after he led the playing control team in West Indies in 2010. Crowe has officiated in 30 T20s to date.

Meanwhile, appointments have also been made for the men's and women's warm-up matches. The men's warm-up matches will be staged from September 13 and will be played in Colombo while the women's matches will be held on September 22 and 23, also in Colombo.

The warm-up match between India and Pakistan at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on September 17 will be broadcast live by ESPN STAR Sports. None of the other 11 warm-up matches will be telecast live.