India’s Nidhi Buley and Ritika among four females to enter BCCI umpiring panel

The Indore-based Buley sisters, Nidhi and Ritika Buley, are among the four retired female cricketers who have made their way into the BCCI umpires’ panel with a distinction. Nidhi played a Test and ODI for India back in 2006 while her younger sister Ritika represented Madhya Pradesh in 31 First-Class games. The BCCI conducted the exam for retired cricketers from June 10-13 and the result was declared.

Overview of the news:

• Candidates needed to score more than 120 marks out of 150 to make the cut and both Nidhi and Ritika cleared the exam with flying colours, amassing 133.5 and 133 marks respectively.
• V Kritika from Tamil Nadu and Ankita Guha of Vidarbha were the other females who were elevated to the BCCI panel, taking the overall number of BCCI-empanelled women umpires to seven.
• Nikhil Patil of Mumbai Cricket Association topped the exam with 147 marks.
• Earlier this year, the trio of Vrinda Rathi, N Janani and V Gayathari made history by becoming the first-ever women umpires to officiate in the prestigious Ranji Trophy.

About the Nidhi and Ritika Buley

Born into a sporting family, both Nidhi and Ritika want to represent India in the umpiring world for different reasons. The elder sister did not have a long career for India and missed out on playing at the hallowed Lord’s while Ritika, who could not reach the highest level as a player, wanted to enter the big club as a match official. Their inspiration is another Indore-based cricketer turned umpire, Nitin Menon, who is the only Indian in the ICC elite panel.

The 31-year-old Ritika also wants to umpire in both men and women games and climb to the highest level. Umpiring remains a male dominated territory and Ritika hopes for a change in the foreseeable future. Nidhi, on the other hand, had moved to Jharkhand from MP in her playing days and represented the former while appearing for the umpiring exam.

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