Sharfuddoula

Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid (শরফুদ্দৌলা ইবনে শহীদ) (born 16 October 1976), also known as Sharfuddoula Saikat, is an international cricket umpire and a former first-class player from Bangladesh. He is the first Bangladeshi umpire to be included in the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires in March 2024. He also officiated in 100 matches in men's international cricket including ICC Men's Cricket World Cup in 2023.

Early life and playing career
Saikat was a student of Rajshahi University School. He completed his honours and masters in International relations from Dhaka University and later earned an MBA in Human resource management from AIUB.

In 1994 Sharfuddoula played three matches for Bangladesh at the 1994 ICC Trophy in Kenya. Sharfuddoula also played 10 first-class cricket matches for Dhaka Metropolis in 2000 and 2001.

Umpiring career
He made his first-class umpiring debut in February 2007 in a match between Barisal Division and Sylhet Division.

In January 2010 he stood in his first ODI match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, becoming the tenth Bangladeshi to umpire at international level.

He was one of the match officials for 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe. He was one of the twelve on-field umpires for the 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20. In October 2019, he was appointed as one of the twelve umpires to officiate matches in the 2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier in the United Arab Emirates. In January 2020, he was named as one of the sixteen umpires for the 2020 Under-19 Cricket World Cup in South Africa.

In February 2021, he was named as an on-field umpire for both the test matches played between Bangladesh and West Indies, becoming the fifth Bangladeshi umpires to officiate in test matches.

In February 2022, he was named one of the on-field umpires for the 2022 Women's Cricket World Cup in New Zealand. In January 2023, he was named one of the on-field umpires for the 2023 ICC Under-19 Women's T20 World Cup.

In March 2023, during the 3rd T20I between Bangladesh and Ireland, he became the first Bangladeshi umpire to officiate in 100 men's international matches.

In September 2023, he was named as one of the sixteen match officials for 2023 Cricket World Cup, becoming the first Bangladeshi umpire to be named as one of the umpires for the Men's World Cup. He was selected to stand in 5 matches as an on-field umpire in the World Cup including a group stage match between Australia and New Zealand.

In January 2024, he became the second Bangladeshi umpire, after Enamul Haque Moni, to officiate a Test match as a neutral umpire outside Bangladesh, being named as an on-field umpire for the 2nd Test between Australia and West Indies.

On 28 March 2024, following the International Cricket Council’s annual review and selection process, he became the first Bangladeshi umpire to be included in the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires. He replaced South African umpire Marais Erasmus who retired from umpiring in international cricket in February 2024.