For the first time in the World Cup, all the officials are women
For the first time in the World Cup, all the officials are women: Lakshmi became the referee after playing for 18 years, the only Indian in the referee panel
The Women's T20 World Cup will be held from February 10. The ICC told that all the match officials in this tournament will be women. In the ICC's list of 13 members, GS Lakshmi, Vrinda Rathi and N. Janani will join as officials. Lakshmi is the referee while Vrinda and Janani are involved as umpires. This is the first time that an all-female team of officials will officiate at an ICC tournament. The ICC stated that they want to increase the participation of women in cricket.
GS Lakshmi is part of the 3-member team known as the official referees in the Women's T20 World Cup. She is also the first woman to be included in the ICC referee panel. Also, she was also the first woman to officiate as a referee in a men's ODI match. He achieved this position in the year 2020.
54-year-old Lakshmi herself has been an all-rounder. During his 18-year career, he has played for South Central Railway, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, East Zone and South Zone teams. In 1999, Lakshmi was also selected for the Indian team, but she could not make it to the playing 11. After this, he retired in 2004. As a referee, he officiated the second innings of a domestic match in 2008.
In December 2022, Vrinda and Janani became the first female pair to officiate in Ranji. Both were also included in the Development Panel of ICC Umpires in 2018. Vrinda started her umpiring career on the grounds of Mumbai.
She has also been the official scorer in the 2013 Women's World Cup. Janani, on the other hand, is umpiring career in 2021 from Tamil Nadu Premier League. She was a software engineer. Janani resigned from her job to become an umpire.