BCCI unhappy with umpire Simon Taufel, not to renew contract

BCCI are set to end their association with umpiring training manager and retired international umpire Simon Taufel, after there have surfaced worries 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 report that the contract with Taufel will not be renewed after September owing to what they feel is turning out to be undue expenditure. The 45-year-old is paid $50,000 annually, and there are those within the board who think he has not done justice to the 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," a top BCCI official is quoted to have said. "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."

Indian umpiring standards have seen a tangible improvement in the last few years, with the induction of S Ravi into ICC’s Elite Panel and C Shamshuddin and Anil Chaudhary being included in the ICC's international panel. There had been no Indian umpire on any of ICC’s lists in 2013 when Taufel had joined.

“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," said 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."

Whether Taufel has justified his price tag is a difficult question to answer, but it seems that the BCCI think they can do without his services from here on.