Female match referee Arati Vaidya will create history on March 15!

Arati Vaidya. Pic/Ashish Raje

Former India women's Test opener Arati Vaidya is all set to become the first woman match referee across all cricket leagues in India. The Pune-born former Mumbai U-19 chief selector, who earlier officiated in women's international matches and in boys age-group games conducted by the BCCI, will be match referee in today's first T20 Mumbai League game to be played between NaMo Bandra Blasters and SoBo Supersonics at Wankhede Stadium.

Vaidya, who represented India in three Tests and six ODIs from 1995 to 1999, was among only two Mumbai referees (Anjali Pendharker is the other), who cleared the assessment programme conducted by former ICC Elite panel umpire Simon Taufel in 2014. "I am grateful to the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) who have given me this recognition and honour. I am very excited to officiate in this game," Vaidya told mid-day yesterday.

"A referee's job is more challenging because in our playing days, we were not bothered about laws etc. But as a referee, you see the game in different perspective," she said. Asked about how different will it be to officiate in a men's game, Vaidya said: "From my experience, [of officiating in age group cricket], when a woman is refereeing, the boys appeared cautious. I think it's a psychological thing."