As you stand solemnly in the middle of the arena, a galloping bowler whizzes past you, hurling the ball towards the batsman. Within a second, the ball pings off the pitch and thwacks the batsman on the front pad. The bowler turns around and yells out a telling scream, rapturously followed by his surrounding teammates. The crowd goes berserk, a fervent bunch of onlookers following the ball to each nook. A hundred, thousand eyes fixated on you, waiting for your verdict, waiting for the frozen statue to flinch.
Welcome to the life of a cricket umpire. The silent man-machines presiding over the game, trained to sniff out an edge and to envision the line of the stumps inside their head.
Umpiring is an underrated job but a highly valued one in the cricketing circles. However, viewers seldom take note of an umpire’s presence amidst the action of the bat and ball. Get it right and you live to fight another day. Get it wrong and you’re admonished for an eternity.
“It is part and parcel of the job. You have to be mentally very strong. If we make a mistake, we get criticized. We get a pat on the back if we do a good job”, says Shahvir Tarapore, who has seen it all as a BCCI/ICC Test umpire since 1999. He’s been witness to records being created and shattered.
It started off in his very first international match. Sachin Tendulkar, in the company of Rahul Dravid, compiled the then-highest partnership in one-day internationals, the former helping himself to a record-breaking unbeaten 186. Tarapore umpired that game.
10 years later, Sachin was at it again with a stupendous 175, the most perfect of knocks with the most imperfect of endings. As a nation endured a heartbreak, Tarapore quietly stood in the middle, diligently doing his job.
In 2010, Tendulkar conjured up one of the most well-compiled knocks in limited overs, rewriting the record books, infusing life in the dying format and starting off a trend with a double hundred. Again, Tarapore had the best seat in the ground - as an on-field umpire.
“I have been very lucky to have been involved in those three great knocks of his. When he got that double hundred against South Africa in Gwalior, I really enjoyed watching him bat.”
But umpiring wasn’t always on Tarapore’s wishlist. Like any other kid growing up in cricket-mad country, he wanted to play for India. “Cricket was part of my childhood while growing up. It was and is a great part of my life, as it was in my blood because of my dad being a coach”, recalls Tarapore.
His dad was none other than the legendary Keki Tarapore who taught Rahul Dravid how to hold a bat. Needless to say, the younger Tarapore was bitten by the cricket bug at an early age. “I played the game and continued from there. I played for the state between 1980 and 1987 in the Ranji trophy. I enjoyed it and I still enjoy it”.
After retiring as a player and unable to sever ties with the game, he took up coaching. Eventually, his preference shifted to a different aspect of the game. Did he have umpiring at the back of his mind all this while?
“A little bit”, he admits. “I gave up playing the game, but I still wanted to remain in it, and I had been given the choice of coaching or umpiring, I realised that umpiring was of more interest to me. So I thought the best thing I could give back to the game, by being in the centre from the first ball to the last one”.
That said, he doesn’t entirely rule out coaching. “I still do a little bit of coaching, I help out at an academy. I am still involved in a bit of coaching, but my passion remains umpiring.”
With serious umpiring, come serious challenges. “There are a lot of them. Like a player, you are there from the first ball to last ball, whether it being a one-day game or a multi-day game. You prepare in a different manner, unlike a player”.
After having qualified as a BCCI umpire and having officiated in numerous Ranji games, he quickly found out that there were several other aspects to the profession. Diet and exercise are two such facets.
While that might seem the case for every umpire, Tarapore admits that each one has his own way of preparing for a match. “Each person has a different regime. We all make it a point that, when we are not umpiring, we go stand in the nets to get the feel of things. It is how you work towards what you call match preparation.”
The mental aspect of it is as vital as physical preparation for the tedious job. “Concentration plays a very big role. You don’t have time to relax. Even if you are standing at the striker’s end, the six balls that your partner is at the bowler’s end, you are still concentrating. At the end of the day, you are more mentally tired than physically.”
That said, the job on hard requires a certain degree of fitness as well. After all, Simon Taufel was an outspoken advocate of fitness for umpires. And Tarapore agrees. “Personally, I don’t follow a strict diet. I do a little bit of gym, because you have to stand for hours at end, you need to have your back and the core has to be strong, so I do a little bit of treadmill and stretching everyday, as part of my physical regime, that’s it”.
But not all the umpires follow a set regime. “There are umpires who spend a lot of time in the gym, a lot of time in the pool. But it’s like I said, each umpire has their own regime of fitness they follow. What might work for you, might not work for me, it depends on the body structure and how much more you can take.”
With all such preparations in place, the actual act of umpiring in pressure situations is a task in itself. More so in India, with crowd cheers ringing across the stadium. “Hearing a snick is only one segment of umpiring. In India, because of the passion, there’s a huge crowd and it is very very difficult at times to hear a snick.”
Experience, therefore, plays a major part, and that’s how he believes an umpire can learn. “So you get some good and get some bad. You learn from experience, sometimes you can even study the body language of a batsman. All this comes from experience and learning.”
Different grounds, different conditions. One needs to adapt and add to his experience, and Tarapore gets down to the business of accustoming himself to the new place. When on the road, acclimatisation becomes key and Tarapore agrees - “It’s basically all about the weather. Once you get acclimatised, then it’s normal day’s work.”.
Everything, however, doesn’t go like clockwork, even on a normal day. Crunch situations make way for some hard fought contests, which sometimes culminate into verbal duels.
“I won’t say, sledging, it is a harsh word, but gamesmanship, it happens everywhere. There are certain limits, and once we, as umpires, feel that the limits have been reached, we got to go via the book as are enunciated in the COC, as even we are bound by certain rules and regulations and we go by the rules, where matters such as gamesmanship is concerned.”
While an on-field umpire is expected to handle such instances, it does prove to be an occasional problem. “The terms and conditions of the rules are laid down in what is called the COC (Code of Conduct). That is what is given to the players and the umpires. We do allow the game to go a few things because else the game will be drab.”
And just like any other professional, it’s a learning curve for the umpires as well. Tarapore says that there’s a system in place. “We have something known as the self-assessment report. There are certain yardsticks given to you to make certain assessments about yourself at the end of the game.”
The Code of Conduct included, all umpires have a deep knowledge of the game. Given that everyone is on an equal footing, it is imperative for an umpire to gauge his performances and try to improve oneself. And Tarapore explains exactly what all aspects are reviewed in the self-assessment system.
“It is not just on decision making: right from your appearance, your clothing, equipment, match and man management, there are five/six yardsticks which are common to all games. The higher you go, they tend to include a few more things, like knowledge of the game and playing conditions.”
While the laws of the game don’t change, the conditions do. And this is what tests an umpire’s mettle. “You may be playing a one-day game, or you may be standing in a school game which is 30 overs. Playing conditions revolve around the laws of the game. Hence, you have to be updated and thorough with that. That way, you are judged.”
And, it doesn’t stop at your own self-assessment. One gets responses from other quarters too, a secondary view of your work. “There is also a system after self-assessment, where you are marked by the two captains and the match referee, who puts their personal report. On the highest level, there is also a scale of 100, where you get your percentage overall.”
The rules were laid quite a while ago. The game, however, is not what is used to be. Various changes, coupled with technological advancements, have given the game a different look. An umpire is surely not expected to fall behind? “As the game has changed, bats have become better, the color of the balls has changed, and there has been an influx of cameras. The umpires also have to change with it. You cannot be found wanting”.
“And, I find that technology makes you feel at ease as an umpire,” he adds.
Yet, there are differing opinions on the Decision Review System (DRS). Tarapore has his say: “It has come a long way and has been accepted. It makes the players feel at ease in the sense, that whether right or wrong, they get the immediate reaction. They are also given the importance of being in a position to make X number of appeals as the tournament rule.”
Giving it a thumbs up, he adds, “A number of players have taken to it, and we, as umpires, have also taken to it.”
The margin for error is pretty thin, and you got to be on your toes all the time. With so many cameras trained on the umpire, each decision is carefully scrutinized. “There are times when people the world over, who are watching at home, become your biggest critics, my own family included. Supposing you make a mistake, you see them talking about it, because of technology, they are viewing it, listening to commentary. That is part and parcel of the job”.
But then, it is an occupational hazard. “You have to be mentally very strong. There are some very good days, where people will talk highly of you. Umpires are humans as much as a player. If a player makes a mistake, he gets criticized, and it is the same for us. If we make a mistake, we get criticized, or we get a pat on the back if we do a good job.
Technology aside, the game itself has evolved into a more powerful version of its former self. The smash and bang format has seen batsmen hitting deliveries at tremendous bat-speeds, and the umpires wouldn’t want to get caught in the radar. “I have absolutely no inhibitions in saying that if players can have safety, then why not umpires (equipment wise). Slowly, you are seeing umpires wearing the arm guard.
“There are umpires now who have started donning the helmet. Even the lawmakers have planned that a certain type of helmets be given to umpires.”
Looking back and reminiscing on the matches he has been part of, Tarapore talks about the fact that despite having responsibilities during a game, it doesn’t make it difficult for him to admire the actual play. “It’s a two-way traffic, firstly, you have to concentrate on the job, and it doesn’t happen once or twice, it happens regularly. It comes in a circle – you do your job and enjoy the individual's performance, or at times, you enjoy the atmosphere around you.”
And there’s always something to look forward to and rejoice in a game, however drab it might seem. “If the game is not really going as expected by everyone, you enjoy the experience, and you enjoy the crowd atmosphere. I have really enjoyed what I have done as an umpire. There is so much to it.”
While several professional cricketers make their way to the commentary box after retiring, very few take up umpiring or even progress to umpiring at the highest level. Tarapore however, feels that should one possess the passion, they must go for it.
“In umpiring or refereeing, there are two P’s: Passion and Patience. Unlike a player, who does well and takes the next step, umpires don’t come into the limelight suddenly. It takes years to take the next step. I have always said to myself that passion and patience are keys.”
It’s this passion that keeps Tarapore going, as he gears up for the upcoming domestic season. Life as an umpire has now come full circle for him. From domestic cricket to international cricket and then back, he has quite simply seen it all.
And as he shares his years worth of knowledge in the game, with peers and youngsters alike, the game remains indebted to personalities like him. For, there are few that continue to pursue their passion and love for the game, turning it into something far greater.
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