Save the umpires: ICC needs to protect them from hard-hitters like Sanju Samson, Hardik Pandya

As was the case when Sanju hit him, and when jokes about the umpire getting out ‘leg after the wicket’ were made on air, this time too the commentator marveled at Hardik’s power, letting out a ‘punched past the bowler’ scream. To be fair to the commentators, as is the case within the entire cricketing world, umpires have an invisible presence. They are the actors who come into play only when they make a mistake.

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In the frenzy to follow the trajectory of the ball travelling in the stands, the oldest person on the ground level – also the least agile and easily the most vulnerable – would get ignored. If cricket’s decision-makers needed a wake-up call, the sound of the ball screeching dangerously close to the umpire has been loud enough. This sure wasn’t the first time this siren had gone off.

But the ICC seem to have put their clocks on snooze mode. Last year, in a Champions Trophy game, Rohit Sharma’s booming straight drive went straight for umpire Chris Gaffaney, sending him tumbling down. Still in a state of shock, he stood up sheepishly. A helpless Rohit looked on with sympathy. Gaffaney put his palm to his heart, possibly to check his racing pulse. Rohit hung out his tongue to convey an apology.

In a few days’ time, another ICC event will kick-off, the World T20, and more ruthless buccaneers will take the field. Once again, the umpires will be at risk. Like always, they will be on their own, figuring out ways to stay safe.

Delhi’s international umpire Anil Chaudhary, who officiated more than 100 international games in a decade-long career, never got hit. The Internet is full of his pictures showing him ducking, swaying and jumping high, the most famous of him forming a giant X shape while in air, hands and legs split wide. Chaudhary speaks about the precautions his colleagues take to avoid getting hit by the ball and also shares his own survival skills, finishing his international career without a scar.

He reminds how the Aussie umpire Bruce Oxenford uses a hand-held guard. Called Ox-black, it is a transparent polycarbonate shield that is strapped to the arm. “But even he got injured once when umpiring from square-leg,” says Chaudhary. “Umpire Virender Sharma wears an abdomen guard. Many others also do that,”

Chaudhary says back in 2016, when India hosted the World T20 championship, the umpires were given helmets. “It wasn’t mandatory. None of the umpires wore it. I didn’t take to it since the helmet’s visor would disturb my view,” he says. Probably in the days to come, feedback from umpires, customised helmets are things that ICC can look at.

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The widely-travelled umpire says that being fit is the only way to deal with the ball heading to the head. “It is like fielding less than 20-yards away from the batsman. One needs to be very focused, fit and have great agility,” he says. Chaudhary emphasises that umpires need to be more athletic. “Gym fitness wouldn’t work. Dole banana (building muscles) wouldn’t help. It makes your body stiff. One needs to be flexible, and one needs to do more running. The ICC should judge umpires based on their agility, flexibility and reflexes,” says the man who loves walking, a habit he owes to his rural upbringing.

Chaudhary says that whenever there was a hard-hitter on the field – MS Dhoni or Andre Russell – he would change his position. “I would step back four to six steps, so I have enough time to take evasive action,” he says. But with Chris Gayle even that didn’t guarantee safety.

Virat Kohli, on a TV show, spoke about the scary experience of batting with Gayle. Once during a RCB game, they were at the crease and the Jamaican hit the ball, as Ravi Shastri would have said, like a tracer bullet. Kohli barely had time to move his head sideways.

That’s when the umpire, former Lankan spinner Kumar Dharmasena, shouted at him. “Don’t move sideways, go down. If the ball hits your helmet and comes towards me, I will be dead,” Kohli would say.

Forget what the fanatics say, cricket is just a sport, not a matter of life and death. Umpires are men who have signed up to ensure that the game is played by rules. They aren’t there to grasp what a soldier feels when dodging bullets in the trenches.