KARACHI: Marais Eras­mus, one of the most respected officials on the ICC elite panel of umpires, is set to supervise a Pakistan-India One-day International for the third time in 15 months when the two subcontinent giants face each other in their Asia Cup Group ‘B’ fixture in Dubai on Sept 19.

Erasmus, the 54-year-old South African who officiated both in the ICC Champions Trophy pool match — when India defeated Pakistan at Edgbaston — and the final in June 2017, won convincingly by Sarfraz Ahmed’s men against Virat Kohli’s charges at The Oval, will be partnered on the field by Sri Lanka’s Ruchira Palliya­gur­uge with Gregory Brathwaite of West Indies named as the TV umpire and former Australian batsman David Boon as the match referee.

The 50-over competition officially begins from Saturday at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium with Sri Lanka playing Bangladesh in the Group ‘A’ game. Afgha­nistan are the other side in this pool.

Moreover, Erasmus — who has so far stood in 77 ODIs apart from 51 Tests and 26 T20 Internationals — could be officiating in another Pakistan vs India tie as the on-field umpire in the Super Four match when the two qualifiers from Group ‘B’ play in Abu Dhabi on Sept 23 with appointments for the second on-field official and TV umpire to be made later by the Asian Cup organisers.

Ex-Zimbabwe batsman Andy Pycroft is the other match referee for the Asia while the panel of umpires also includes ICC international panel members Shaun George of South Africa, Pakistan’s Ahsan Raza, Nitin Menon of India, Bangladesh’s Anisur Rahman and Ahmad Pakteen of Afghanistan.

Hong Kong, who qualified for the competition after defeating UAE in the final of the Asian Cup qualifiers in Malaysia last week, open their Group ‘B’ campaign against Pakistan in Dubai on Sept 16 with Tucker and Pakteen named as on-field umpires with George supervising as the TV official and Pycroft as the match referee.

Erasmus and Boon have been further being nominated to officiate in the final in Dubai on Sept 28 with Australia’s Rod Tucker monitoring the TV replays.

Meanwhile, the ICC confirmed that it has awarded ODI status to all matches in the Asia Cup with the governing body’s chief executive saying in a statement: “To grant ODI status to all matches in the Asia Cup is a positive step taken by the ICC Board as we continue to take an in-depth look at international cricket structures in relation to our long-term ambition of growing the game and adding to the one billion fans who already follow the sport.”

Hong Kong are the only team in the tournament without ODI status.

Richardson further said: “This decision was informed by our review of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier earlier this year where there was a mix of games with and without international status which proved to be confusing for fans.

“In order to simplify the situation we will extend the ICC Cricket World Cup principle of all matches being ODIs to other tournaments where a number of the teams have ODI status and some not, this includes the Asia Cup and ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers.”

Schedule (all matches start at 4:30pm PST):

League stage:

Sept 15: Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh (Dubai) — Umpires: Marais Erasmus and Chettithody Shamshuddin; TV umpire: Gregory Brathwaite; fourth umpire: Ahmad Pakteen; match referee: David Boon.

Sept 16: Pakistan vs Hong Kong (Dubai) — Umpires: Rod Tucker and Ahmad Pakteen; TV umpire: Shaun George; fourth umpire: Nitin Menon; match referee: Andy Pycroft.

Sept 17: Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan (Abu Dhabi) — Umpires: Ahsan Raza and

Gregory Brathwaite; TV umpire: Marais

Erasmus; fourth umpire: Chettithody Shamshuddin; match referee: David Noon.

Sept 18: India vs Hong Kong (Dubai) — Umpires: Shaun George and Anisur Rahman; TV umpire: Rod Tucker; fourth umpire: Ahsan Raza’ match referee: Andy Pycroft.

Sept 19: Pakistan vs India (Dubai) — Umpires; Marais Erasmus and Ruchira Palliyaguruge; TV umpire: Gregory Brathwaite; fourth umpire: Anisur Rahman; match referee: David Boon.

Sept 20: Bangladesh vs Afghanistan (Abu Dhabi) — Umpires: Rod Tucker and Nitin Menon; TV umpire: Shaun George; fourth umpire: Ruchira Palliyaguruge; match referee: Andy Pycroft.

Super Four

Sept 21: Group ‘A’ Winners vs Group ‘B’ Runners-up (Dubai) — Umpires: Gregory Brathwaite and second on-field nomination; TV umpire: Rod Tucker; fourth umpire: to be nominated; match referee: David Boon.

Sept 21: Group ‘B’ Winners vs Group ‘A’ Runners-up (Abu Dhabi) — Umpires: Shaun George and second on-field nomination; TV umpire: Marais Erasmus; fourth umpire: to be nominated; match referee: Andy Pycroft.

Sept 23: Group ‘A’ Winners vs Group ‘A’ Runners-up (Dubai) — Umpires: Rod Tucker and second on-field nomination; TV umpire: Gregory Brathwaite; fourth umpire: to be nominated; match referee: David Boon.

Sept 23: Group ‘B’ Winners vs Group ‘B’ Runners-up (Abu Dhabi) — Umpires: Marais Erasmus and second on-field nomination; TV umpire: Shaun George; fourth umpire: to be nominated; match referee: Andy Pycroft.

Sept 25: Group ‘A’ Winners vs Group ‘B’ Winners (Dubai) — Umpires: Gregory Brathwaite and second on-field nomination; TV umpire: Rod Tucker; fourth umpire: to be nominated; match referee: Andy Pycroft.

Sept 26: Group ‘A’ Runners-up vs Group ‘B’ Runners-up (Abu Dhabi) — Umpires: Shaun George and second on-field nomination; TV umpire: Marais Erasmus; fourth umpire: to be nominated; match referee: David Boon.

Sept 28: Final (Dubai) — Umpires: Marais Erasmus and second on-field nomination; TV umpire: Rod Tucker; fourth umpire: to be nominated; match referee: David Boon.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2018