CA-turned umpire Pashchim Pathak opens up on his hair style and umpiring career

Usually, an umpire becomes viral on social media only after giving a controversial decision on the field. Umpiring is pretty much a thankless job and most often than not, an umpire makes it to the news because of mistakes. But Pashchim Pathak is an exception. The umpire was all over the social media during IPL 2020 but not for any wrong reasons.

Pathak caught everyone’s attention with his long hair as well as his voice. Fans on social media called him Rockstar umpire, and some have termed him DJ umpire. With the IPL now all done and dusted, the umpire has opened up about his long hair after becoming popular during the tournament in the UAE. Pathak has revealed that getting attention for hair is nothing new for him

“I received lots of messages from my friends and people whom I know. People talked about my hairstyle but it’s nothing new. I have been growing my hair for the last two years now, even in domestic cricket I stood with my long hair,” Pathak told The Indian Express.

Paschim Pathak opens up on his stance and umpiring career

Apart from his hair style, Paschim Pathak also caught attention with the way he stood on the field. Just like the umpires of the yesteryear, he too likes to bend while standing behind the stumps. Umpires in old days believed that standing with a bent pose helped them focus more. Speaking about it, he recalled how he had read a famous quote about how cricket is a sport where everyone bends, including the umpire.

“The line stuck with me. If you see in cricket everyone has to bend at some point of time. The bowler has to bend while bowling, fielder bends once he takes a start and batsman too bends at stance. So even I bend while standing behind stumps. It helps me a lot in terms of concentration,” he said.

The cricket official further opened up on how he started his career as an umpire. He was a chartered accountant but his heart was set on cricket and he eventually opted for the second option. Pathak started his journey in the game with the dream of playing. In his childhood, he had enrolled himself in the academy of Ramakant Achrekar, the man who had taught Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli among others.

However, he didn’t take long to realise that becoming a professional cricketer was tough. But at the same time, he wanted to remain connected with the game and thus decided to become an umpire. Pathak revealed he asked his neighbour Sriram Kannan, a Mumbai Ranji Trophy player, how to pursue a career in umpiring before getting himself enrolled at the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA).

“I wanted to be a cricketer but soon I realised that it’s not meant for me. I was always good at studies, so my family never pressured me. I became a professional umpire after giving an exam in MCA and later cleared all umpiring exams under BCCI in 2008. Since umpiring was my passion, I stopped my CA work,” Pathak said.