Senior Indian umpire S Ravi bats for Decision Review System in the IPL

Senior Indian umpire S Ravi will be the only umpire from India to officiate in the upcoming Champions Trophy in England. The 51-year-old from Chennai became a part of International Cricket Council‘s (ICC) Elite Panel in the year 2015, after earning respect in the domestic circuit.

Since 2015, the Indian has earned admiration from the cricketing fraternity in the International circuit with his reliable decision making and no-nonsense approach as seen recently in the IPL with Mumbai Indians’ skipper Rohit Sharma.

Incident with the Aussies

“It involved a couple of Australian players. There was an issue regarding player behaviour and I had to intervene.” Ravi revealed, “The Australians in question said ‘Ravi, we are grown-up cricketers, we know what we are doing.’ My answer was ‘I am just following the rule book.” In a conversation with The Hindu in Chennai, Ravi recalled the interesting incident.

The umpire then revealed that he disagrees with the view that the contemporary umpires are soft with players’, saying “A certain level of chatter between the batsman, the bowler and the fielders, everyone wants to see. But it should not cross the line and get personal.”

He elaborated, “Once that happens, the ICC has given umpires clear guidelines and there is a match-referee to oversee things as well.”

The need for Decision Review System (DRS):

Ravi feels technology was good for the game. “DRS doesn’t undermine an umpire, it assists him. If he has made a mistake, it is corrected and the game moves on.”

He is in favour of the use of DRS in the star-studded Indian Premier League recalling the incident from the finals, where he gave the Rising Pune Supergiant opener Rahul Tripathi out despite the ball hitting him high on the pads.

He said, “When Rahul Tripathi was struck on the pad off Jasprit Bumrah, it looked plumb from a front-on view. I gave out. Later, I was told by the TV umpire that the side-view replays showed the ball was missing the stumps by millimetres, going over.”

“Had DRS been there, the mistake could have been rectified. A couple of millimetres can make a difference. And with the kind of noise in the stadium during the IPL games, it is almost impossible to hear a feather from a batsman.”

Umpiring in Sri Lanka and England:

Ravi further agreed with the fact that umpiring in the sub-continent could be challenging, particularly in Tests, with the close-in cordon and the bowler appealing continuously for bat-pad or leg-before decisions.

He said, “The Sri Lanka-Australia series on turning pitches in Sri Lanka last year was tough. You have to base you decisions on the combination of your experience, instinct and reading of the pitch, like how much it is turning.”

Officiating in England has been a different experience for the Indian umpire. “There it is late swing or tail swing as some call it. You have to watch the ball till the last moment, calculate the swing and the seam movement. Then there are rain interruptions. You have to refocus. It is not easy,” he said.

He concluded the interview, saying that just like the game of cricket for the players, the umpire too never stops learning. According to him, if an umpire believes that he knows everything, his growth will stop there.