Sri Lankan umpire Ranjan Madugalle achieved a great feat in the history of ODI cricket on Wednesday (August 7). Ranjan Madugalle became the first match umpire to officiate in all 400 games in the 50-over format at the international stage.

Ranjan Madugalle achieved the feat during the ongoing third ODI of the series between the Indian National Cricket Team and the Sri Lanka National Cricket Team. The final match of the series between the teams will be held at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

Ranjan Madugalle has been the referee for all three matches of the ongoing ODI series between India and Sri Lanka. On completing 400 matches of the ODIs, match referee Ranjan Madugalle was congratulated by Sri Lanka Cricket in the presence of the other match umpires and captains Rohit Sharma and Charith Asalanka.

Ranjan Madugalle was presented with a plaque by the SLC on behalf of the International Cricket Council for completing 400 games. Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Ashley de Silva. The official SLC Twitter account confirmed the development and congratulated Ranjan, stating:

“Congratulations to Mr. Ranjan Madugalle for his 4️⃣0️⃣0️⃣The ODI as a match referee! On behalf of the @ICC, Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Ashley de Silva presented a plaque to commemorate this incredible milestone.

🎉 Congratulations to Mr. Ranjan Madugalle on his 4️⃣0️⃣0️⃣° ODI as a match referee! 🎉

On behalf of the @CCI Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Ashley de Silva unveiled a plaque to commemorate this incredible milestone. image.twitter.com/S5liFJJ4ES

— Sri Lanka Cricket 🇱🇰 (@OfficialSLC) August 7, 2024

Ranjan Madugalle tops the list for the most number of men’s ODIs umpired by the match referee. He stands at the top of the list with 400 games to his name. Chris Broad is second on the list with 361 matches. Jeff Crowe has overseen 329 games while Indian match referee Javagal Srinath has been a part of 268 games in the 50-overs format.

Most men’s ODIs are officiated by the match referee.

400 – Ranjan Madugalle

361 – Chris Broad

329 – Jeff Crowe

268 – Javagal Srinath

Sri Lanka opt to bat in Ranjan Madugalle’s 400th ODI

Sri Lankan captain Charith Asalanka won the third consecutive toss and put Team India on the field first. The hosts got off to a fairly solid start with the bat as the duo of Pathum Nissanka and Avishka Fernando put up a sensational batting display at the top.

Pathum Nissanka and Avishka Fernando added 89 runs for the opening pair and put the Indian bowlers under pressure. Axar Patel made the first breakthrough for his team by removing Nissanka for 45 runs but after that, Sri Lanka was once again on top.

Avishka Fernando played a sensational innings but fell just 4 runs short of his century when he was removed by Riyan Parag to get his first international wicket. The all-rounder then contributed again when he trapped Sri Lanka national cricket team’s Charith Asalanka at lbw for 10 runs to bring his team back into the game.