Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid Saikat becomes the first Bangladesh umpire in ICC’s Elite Panel of umpires. It is a matter of great honor for him as well as for his country.
Sharfuddoula was a cricketer who played in the 1994 ICC Trophy. But later injury issues lead him to turn in umpiring. The 47-year-old ex-cricketer joined the Bangladesh Cricket Board as cricket operations manager. He has overseen 10 Tests, 63 One-Day Internationals, and 44 Twenty20 Internationals.
Sharfuddoula shared his opinions in the ICC media release. Here he said, “To be the first from my country on the panel makes it extra special and I look forward to justifying the faith shown in me,”
He also said, “I played the Dhaka Premier League in 89 and I was in class 8 or 9 playing for Surjo Torun. Then I played for the Bangladesh team in 92 after passing SSC. I think I was too young, and then in 94 I played the ICC Trophy.”
Then he added, “The funny thing is that I played for the U-19s after I was already captaining the national side. Then I played the Premier League for 17 to 18 years and then had one first-class tournament before the back pain came. I decided on a job or studies before coming to umpiring,” he said about his career in a BCB video.”
Recently Saikat had umpired in a high-voltage series such as Australia vs West Indies. Saikat also shared his experience, “Umpiring here is a lot of pressure. We are a cricket-obsessed nation, and everyone wants the team to win. We also want it to be understood that when we go out into the ground, we must maintain neutrality.”
He continued, “We can’t be biased. I have played for Bangladesh and, of course, I feel good when the team wins but there are errors in judgment, and it’s part of life and people need to accept that too.”
Then he added, “Actually, I have done World Cups and also the Test series in Australia. However, truth be told, I haven’t felt the kind of pressure that I feel umpiring on home soil. But people are now seeing that umpiring is a difficult job, and umpires are human beings as well.”