Why does a cricketing powerhouse like India, which has money, good international teams across formats, a thriving fan base, have just one Indian umpire in the elite panel? The answer is best summed up thus: Somewhere in Nagpur, there exists an umpiring academy. Started in 2010 with lofty ambitions to produce world-class umpires in India, it quickly got embroiled in conflicts between the administrators, and was reduced to an examination centre. After the former Indian captain S Venkatraghavan retired in 2004, India had to wait till 2015 for an elite panel umpire when S Ravi was inducted. But neither he nor C Shamshuddin lasted long. Nitin Menon, currently officiating in the Test in London between England and South Africa, is now the lone Indian in the group.
The Indian cricket board did try, but most moves were short-lived. They experimented with an umpire’s coach before discarding the idea. Then they had an umpire review committee, which was disbanded. Now, the match referees have that onus. Widely regarded as one of the best umpires in the world of his time, the Australian Simon Taufel has given a few coaching seminars. In the 2019 season, when the BCCI organised 2024 domestic games — a jump from 1,000 — they failed to factor in the need for more umpires and a tough slog for tired umpires ensued. In the year before that, several Ranji umpires were reportedly fielded without proper medical fitness tests due to paucity of time.
