Photo Credit: @srivastavtanmay on X

NEW DELHI: It’s been 17 years since Virat Kohli lifted the U-19 World Cup trophy. From that team, only Ravindra Jadeja, Manish Pandey and Kohli are still active in the IPL. This season, they will be reuniting with one more of their teammates when Tanmay Srivastava makes his debut as a BCCI-qualified umpire.
Incidentally, Srivastava was India’s top-scorer in the U-19 World Cup final against South Africa in 2008, which earned him a contract with Kings XI Punjab. Srivastava has been fast-tracked as an umpire by the BCCI after clearing the Level 2 course in two years. At 35, he is set to earn the distinction of becoming the first player to have both played and officiated in the IPL.
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For now, he hasn’t been given on-field duties this season. While most players from the batch have recently retired or are no longer active in top-level cricket, Srivastava decided to retire as a player in 2020 while he was captaining Uttarakhand after moving from UP at the age of 30.
“I understood that was the best player I could be,” Srivastava told TOI. “I was nowhere close to playing the IPL. I had to decide if I wanted to prolong life as a player or have a longer successful second innings.”
Srivastava admits it was about swallowing his ego. “I am still in touch with Virat, but I had to decide for myself and have a practical outlook,” he added.
It was an honest discussion with current BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla, a UP cricket mainstay, that gave him clarity.
“I told Shukla sir that I wanted to do something else in cricket other than playing. He was a bit taken aback since I was still just 30. Then we discussed what the options could be. I did my Level 2 course in coaching in NCA, but I knew the best I could become was fielding coach. I decided to focus on umpiring,” Srivastava said.
In 2020, when he was preparing for the umpiring exams, Srivastava juggled cricketing jobs, a talent scout for RCB and fielding coach for U-16s at NCA and for Jammu and 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,” he said.
Srivastava credits the BCCI’s umpiring programme, which has a players’ quota.
“There is certain relaxation for players irrespective of the level of cricket they’ve played. The board is encouraging young players to take up umpiring rather than heavily depending on older people with bookish knowledge,” he said.