BCCI's contract with Simon Taufel will not be renewed

BCCI is all set to end the association with Simon Taufel, who is the current umpiring training manager, after having a lot of worries on his commitment for the job. Taufel had been appointed by BCCI in 2013 to guide Indian umpires.

According to TOI, Taufel, the five-time Umpire of the Year award winner’s contract will not be renewed after September. The 45-year-old is paid $50,000 annually, and there are those in 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.”

“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.”

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Indian umpiring standards had gone over the last couple of 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, which all happened after the appointment of Taufel in 2013.

So based on this, he feels to have done justice for the job. But it seems like they can take it forward from here on without the services of Taufel.