AMRIT MATHUR HUR

Here’s a quiz question: Name the only Indian currently on ICC’S Test umpiring panel? The correct answer is S Ravi but chances are that a large chunk of our cricketloving junta and most BCCI/COA members will be clueless! Ignorance and apathy about umpires is hardly a surprise. In Indian cricket’s ecosystem umpires are ‘extras’, who are given zero priority in a multi-starrer featuring mega stars.

This neglect is baffling because the umpire is central to cricket, tasked by laws to ‘control’ the game. But reality is different: Forget respect, the men in white are abused, insulted and sledged viciously on the field. The era when players gracefully accepted umpiring decisions is history.

A common thread in conversations with umpires is the stress they handle. Fielding sides ‘work’ on umpires to extract favourable decisions and apart from the usual chatter over leg-before decisions, caught behind edges and bat/pad catches, Indian umpires face additional tests.

The laws of cricket grant batsmen the benefit of the doubt but in domestic cricket, star players get the benefit even when there is NO doubt.

The power structure of Indian cricket is such that only a very brave (or silly) umpire will raise hisfingertoruleatopplayerlbw. Challenged by players and technology,umpiresareunderfurther scrutinynowthatbccimatchreferees sit on judgment to review their performance. Not many survive the heat, which is one reason the experiment of fast-tracking ex-players into umpiring mainstream hasn’t produced results.

Strangely, umpires are on the backfoot from the beginning, not given training or tools to carry out their duties. The BCCI created the Nagpur National Umpir-