The International Cricket Council on Friday confirmed the appointment of match officials for the group stage of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, which is scheduled to begin on February 7 across venues in India and Sri Lanka. According to the ICC, a total of 24 on-field umpires and six match referees have been selected to officiate during the opening phase of the tournament, while officials for the Super Eight and knockout stages will be announced at a later date.

The opening match of the tournament between Pakistan and the Netherlands will be played at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo, where Kumar Dharmasena and Wayne Knights will stand as on-field umpires. Dharmasena, a member of Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup-winning squad, brings vast experience to the role, having officiated in 37 T20 World Cup matches, including the finals of the 2016 and 2022 editions. Knights will make his T20 World Cup debut in this match, which will also mark his 50th T20 International as an on-field umpire.

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In Kolkata, Nitin Menon and Sam Nogajski will officiate the Group C encounter between Scotland and the West Indies. Later the same day in Mumbai, India’s group-stage match against the USA will be overseen by Paul Reiffel and Rod Tucker. Tucker, who holds the record for officiating the most T20 World Cup matches with 46 appearances, is set to reach the milestone of 50 matches during the tournament. He will also be involved in several high-profile fixtures, including England versus Nepal, India versus Namibia, and South Africa versus UAE.

Experienced officials Chris Gaffaney and Richard Illingworth, who previously stood together during the 2024 T20 World Cup final, will reunite for the Group B match between Australia and Ireland on February 11. Illingworth will also partner with Dharmasena for the much-anticipated India versus Pakistan group-stage clash, scheduled to be played in Colombo on February 15.

The ICC has also confirmed the list of match referees and umpires who will be part of the group-stage officiating panel. The match referees appointed for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 are Dean Cosker, David Gilbert, Ranjan Madugalle, Andrew Pycroft, Richie Richardson and Javagal Srinath.

The umpires named for the tournament include Roland Black, Chris Brown, Kumar Dharmasena, Chris Gaffaney, Adrian Holdstock, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Wayne Knights, Donovan Koch, Jayaraman Madanagopal, Nitin Menon, Sam Nogajski, KNA Padmanabhan, Allahuddien Paleker, Ahsan Raza, Leslie Reifer, Paul Reiffel, Langton Rusere, Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid, Gazi Sohel, Rod Tucker, Alex Wharf, Raveendra Wimalasiri and Asif Yaqoob.

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