Prakash Bhatt became the second Indian to umpire a Test match after Javagal Srinath

Prakash Bhatt during the shootout between Bangladesh and West Indies (Image credit: BCB) MUMBAI: Former Saurashtra cricketer Prakash Bhatt made his ‘Test debut’ at Mirpur in Dhaka on Wednesday in the first Test between Bangladesh and West Indies as an ICC match referee.Bhatt thus became only the second Indian after former Indian pacer Javagal Srinath to become a Test umpire.In April this year, Bhatt was selected by the International Cricket Council in the ICC’s newly formed three-member emerging panel of international umpires.The ICC has an “Elite Panel” which has five umpires (Javagal Srinath, Andy Pycroft, Richie Richardson, Ranjan Madugalle and Jeff Crowe) with three umpires from the newly formed Emerging panel added to the list.The development meant that the ICC sent Bhatt to officiate in many international games, including Test matches.Bhatt has been a BCCI match referee in domestic cricket since the 2007–2008 season. Since 2018, he has been refereeing IPL matches. He has been with the ICC since 2024. He is the first Indian to be included in the inaugural ICC Emerging panel of match referees.In her international career so far, Bhatt has officiated in 48 T20Is, six ODIs, four Women’s T20Is and three Women’s ODIs. He has also officiated in 67 first-class matches and 75 IPL matches so far. Bhatt, 56, officiated in 13 matches at the Under-19 ODI World Cup, which was held in Zimbabwe and Namibia in January-February. In October last year, Bhatt officiated in the Australia vs New Zealand T20I series in New Zealand.Bhatt played 51 first-class matches (3,183 matches at 39.29, seven centuries) and 38 List A matches (1,007 matches at 33.56, six fifties) between 1994–95 and 2004–05.