BCCI unhappy with Simon Taufel

The BCCI is set to end its association with umpiring training manager and retired elite international umpire, Simon Taufel. This comes after worries were expressed that the five-time Umpire of the Year award winner has not shown enough commitment to his job. Taufel had been roped in by BCCI in 2013 to guide Indian umpires.

TOI reported that the contract with Simon Taufel will not be renewed after September as BCCI feels it is turning out to be undue expenditure.

A year after he retired in 2012, Taufel was roped in by BCCI at a hefty fee to educate domestic-level umpires. Taufel is currently paid around $50,000 a year, but many within the board feel he “hasn’t done justice” to the high salary. “The board wants to cut out unnecessary expenditure. Much was expected of Taufel but his work over the past couple of years hasn’t been satisfactory. The board is willing to look at someone else,” said a top BCCI official, adding, “He spent very little time in India. If you add up the days he spends before the Ranji Trophy and the IPL, he interacts with Indian umpires at the most for a fortnight a year. It is not worth paying him so much.”

When Taufel took over, India had not had a representative in the ICC’s elite panel for many years, since the retirement of S Venkataraghavan. S Ravi managed to break in last year, with C Shamshuddin and Anil Chaudhary finding their places in the list of on-field umpires in the ICC’s international panel.

“He was initially given a two-year contract. But his performance was reviewed last year and it was decided he should be given only one-year contracts. There’s no denying that there has been a healthy change since he took over but our umpires too have evolved a lot,” noted another BCCI official, “If there is a change in ICC regulation or something like that, the board can always hire the services of a professional”.

It remains to be seen what BCCI decides to do after this whole episode.