Englishmen Richard Illingworth and Richard Kettleborough will stand as on-field umpires in the World Cup summit clash between India and Australia here on Sunday.
This will be the second outing for Richard Kettleborough, who also stood in the final of the 2015 World Cup. His partner on that occasion was Kumar Dharmasena.
With the blockbuster ICC World Cup 2023 final clash just a couple of days away, the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday named Richard Illingworth and Richard Kettleborough as the on-field umpires for the high-voltage title clash between India and Australia at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium.
Among other officials for the all-important final on Sunday is Joel Wilson, who will be the third umpire, fourth umpire Chris Gaffaney, and match referee Andy Pycroft. All of them were also part of officiating teams in the semi-finals.
“This will be the second outing for Kettleborough, who also stood in the final of the 2015 Cricket World Cup. For Illingworth, too, this will be a second World Cup final appearance, albeit his first as a match official,” the ICC said in an official statement.
Richard Kettleborough was one of the umpires in all the previous ICC events in which India lost at the knock out round including the Final of the T20 World Cup in 2014 in which India lost to Sri Lanka, the Semi-final of the 2015 ODI World Cup in which India lost to Australia, Semi-final of 2016 T20 World Cup in which India lost to West Indies, Final of Champions Trophy in 2017 in which India lost to Pakistan and in semi-final of 2019 ODI World Cup in which India lost to New Zealand.
As soon as the news was out Indian fans shared their fear on social media. Here is why: