IPL 2025: Virat Kohli's U19 World Cup teammate Tanmay Srivastava to make umpiring debut

Virat Kohli came to the limelight after he led India Under-19 to a World Cup triumph in 2008. He and some of his teammates such as Ravindra Jadeja and Manish Pandey, who are still active, were part of the winning squad. However, there was one more player, Tanmay Srivastava, who played a crucial role for his team. In the tournament, he was the top-scorer with 262 runs, including an important 43 in the final against South Africa Under-19.

Srivastava did not get an opportunity to play for the national team at the highest level and got limited matches with Punjab Kings (then Kings XI Punjab) in IPL 2008 and 2009. The left-handed batter retired at the age of 30 in 2020 after feeling like he would not be able to play for India.

The Uttar Pradesh-born took up umpiring post his playing career and is now set to debut as an official in IPL 2025 after becoming a BCCI-qualified umpire. With this, he is also set to become the first person to have played and umpired in the IPL.

The 35-year-old was fast-tracked by the BCCI after he cleared Level 2 in two years. In the upcoming season, he will not be performing on-field duties though.

After retirement, Srivastava was not only preparing for his umpiring exams but was also involved in other roles such as being a scout for RCB, a fielding coach for Under-16s at the NCA and for Jammu & Kashmir.

"Studying for umpiring is tough. I used to stay up at nights. You have to study a lot to understand the laws and its implications," said Srivastava as quoted by The Times of India.

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The former Under-19 star praised the BCCI's umpiring programme as well. He spoke about the board highly for encouraging young players to become umpires.

"There is certain relaxation for players irrespective of the level of cricket they have played. The board is encouraging young players to take up umpiring rather than heavily depending on older people with bookish knowledge," he added.