Prakash Bhatt becomes second Indian Test match referee

Former Saurashtra cricketer Prakash Bhatt made his Test debut as match referee on Wednesday in the first Test between Bangladesh and West Indies in Mirpur. He became the second Indian after Javagal Srinath to officiate in Tests. Bhatt was selected in April for the ICC's three-member Emerging panel of match referees, which added three officials to the existing five-member Elite panel.

Bhatt has officiated in 48 T20Is, six ODIs, four women's T20Is and three women's ODIs. He has also overseen 67 first-class matches and 64 IPL matches. The 56-year-old played 51 first-class matches between 1994-95 and 2004-05, scoring 3,183 runs at 39.29 with seven centuries.

Bhatt served as a BCCI match referee in domestic cricket from 2007-08 and as an IPL match referee since 2018. He joined the ICC in 2024 and officiated 13 matches in the Under-19 ODI World Cup earlier this year.