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K N Ananthapadmanabhan, who was included in the ICC International Panel of Umpires in August 2020, is now set to officiate in his first international match as an on-field umpire. Ananthapadmanabhan will officiate the first T20I between India and England at the newly refurbished Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday.
Ananthapadmanabhan, who was the official in the Ranji Trophy final between Bengal and Saurashtra in 2020, mentioned how this opportunity was bound to come his way after all his years of experience.
“Lot of international cricket is on the cards and hopefully I will be in one of those. I knew I would make it as I was given quite a number of opportunities to harness my skills by ICC,” Ananthapadmanabhan said.
He is set to become only the fourth international umpire from Kerala, after Jose Kurishinklal, Dr K N Raghavan and S Dendapani. Ananthapadmanabhan now holds the record for being the first Kerala umpire to make it to the ICC's international panel set. He has prior experience, having officiated in almost all domestic events, including the Indian Premier League.
“This was what I was waiting for a long time, and I knew I would get it and am extremely happy and delighted. I missed out playing for the country as I plied my trade when the country’s greatest leg spinner Anil Kumble reigned supreme. We played almost around the same time and hence I failed to play for the country,” Ananthapadmanabhan said after being included in ICC's panel.
Ananthapadmanabhan's career as a player
Interestingly, Ananthapadmanabhan, a former leg-spinner, happens to be the only cricketer from Kerala to have featured in more than 100 first-class matches. He was unfortunate to have never made it to the national squad despite consistent performances at the domestic level.
The 51-year-old former leg-spinner was also a part of the national junior selection committee for the 2005-06 season alongside Pravin Amre, Kamal Das, Sanjeev Rao and Sanjeev Sharma. Ananthapadmanabhan also happens to be a qualified Level-2 Coach at the NCA (National Cricket Academy), Bangalore.
Ananthapadmanabhan played 105 first-class matches for Kerala, scalping 344 wickets over the course of his career. He also has three first-class hundreds and eight half-centuries to his name.
