Former National Topper in Domestic One Day Cricket gets an IPL call after 6 years following a couple of terrific Ranji Seasons
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And yet, Madanagopal’s umpiring career has been chequered and rather stagnant despite consistent performances over the last decade. Much to his credit, just like in his playing career, he has gone about Umpiring in a quiet way trying to give his best and leaving the rest to destiny.
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Madanagopal has now broken into the BCCI Top 20 Umpires Panel
This IPL call could just be the Positive Turnaround in his Umpiring career
The IPL is a great stepping stone and will boost Madanagopal's Confidence a great deal- S Ravi, Former Elite Panel Umpire
Six years after he made his IPL debut as a fourth umpire, former South Zone cricketer 45 year old JR Madanagopal, who made his umpiring foray in the same year as his former IOB team mate and close friend KN Ananthapadmanabhan (http://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/09/ananthapadmanabhan-kn.html), has just received a call today (Sunday) for this year’s IPL as the fourth umpire. Earlier this week, Ananthapadmanabhan received his first on-field Ranji Final call. This IPL call for Madanagopal comes in the wake of two terrific years in the domestic circuit (he moved into the top 20 Umpires ahead of this Indian domestic season). Even though he failed to get a knock out game in the Ranji Trophy this season, he will be officiating in the U23 national final later this month, the 2nd year in a row that he will be umpiring the final. In recent years, he has also umpired women's internationals.
It has been quite a surprise that Madanagopal has had to wait this long for his IPL (re) call for he has continued to have successful years in the Ranji circuit over the last few years. In many ways, his umpiring story has been much like the one from his playing days. Throughout his playing days, the axe was always held to his neck.
Frustrating Early Playing Days
Despite consistent scores in the 1st division league in the 1990s, Madanagopal had to undergo the ‘wait’ for his Ranji Debut. It was also the phase when he was shockingly left out of the TN Junior state team at the toss (his captain (wicket keeper), with whom I have toured and played cricket and whose many matches I have umpired in the last two decades had included Madanagopal in the playing XI but under the pressure of the team manager (who was renowned in TN cricket in the 80s and 90s for such ‘abnormalities’), Madanagopal’s name was replaced with a more ‘favoured’ one at the toss). It was a death blow for the cricketer from the districts to experience such an unsavoury incident in a game that he had understood from his childhood as a gentleman’s game.Robin Singh saves Madan’s career
He was on the verge of quitting cricket. He had written the ICWA inter and had got through. There was a professional career in the offing on the accounting front. . It was also the time when he was on the verge of joining RBI and settling down in a career away from cricket (RBI had already dropped down from the 1stdivision in those times). In that dark hour, it was Robin Singh who turned out to be his savior. Spotting the potential in Madanagopal and his ability to score big runs, Robin asked him to give it a shot for another year. The Chief of India Pistons, Venkataramani, too had a professional chat with him and suggested that the player should not give up at that stage in his careerSticking on to cricket after having completed ICWA Inter, Madanagopal finally broke through into the Ranji Squad in the 1998-99 Season at the age of 24 (his brother J Gokulakrishan -http://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2017/03/gokulakrishnan-j.html had made it into the Ranji team as a 20 year old). However, the six year phase of state cricket showed to him the systemic challenges that he had already experienced in a lighter form in his earlier days in the 90s.
500+ runs in his first two Ranji Seasons
He made his Ranji Trophy debut batting at No. 7 in Tirunelveli in November 1998 against Karnataka. After a failure in that match, he was dropped for the next match and was then included for a couple of matches and dropped again for the super league game in early 1999. He was once again included for the 2nd match of the super league against Railways and scored a century in February 1999. He followed that up with a half century in the next match against Orissa. In the last game of the super league, he scored 71 and 199 against Maharashtra. In four innings, he had amassed 420 runs. By mid March, Madanagopal had played 6 Ranji matches and had scored two centuries in his debut season but had already been dropped twice from the squad.
Amazing run in One Day cricket
He made his one day debut for Tamil Nadu with a century against Kerala in December 1998 as an opener. But the very next match after his century, he was shunted to No. 6 where he got just a few balls to bat at the end of the innings. That symbolized his cricket playing career for Tamil Nadu, perpetually living on the edge and always facing the axe.
Madanagopal has an amazing record in Ranji Trophy and One Day cricket for Tamil Nadu, something not too many have taken note and definitely even fewer have officially recognized. In his debut Ranji Season, he topped 500 runs in his first two Ranji Seasons and followed it up star performances in the next two seasons in the minimal opportunities that he got. In December 1999, he scored 84 in his one and only Duleep Trophy match!!! In both 2000-01 and 2001-02, Madanagopal was Tamil Nadu’s highest run getter in one day cricket. In both the years, he was among the top 6 run getters in the country in domestic one day cricket out beating most of the reputed names in the state.
And yet at the beginning of the 2002-03 Season, he was dropped for the entire one day league season. Despite topping the run chart for two years in a row and being the 2ndleading run getter in the knock out for the state in the third year, Madanagopal was never in the Deodhar Trophy squad, quite a shattering blow for cricketing meritocracy in this part of the country!!! As has been his character, he has played his cricket silently without ever raising even once a voice in dissent at the shabby treatment meted out to him.
Umpiring – The Same Story
He took to umpiring in the 2nd half of the last decade, the same season as Ananthapadmanabhan. And yet, it has been the same story over the last decade - the story of his cricketing days has been played out all over again during his umpiring career. He made it to the top 25 earlier this decade on the back of terrific decision making in several high pressure Ranji matches that received commendation even from Sourav Ganguly, the current BCCI President.
With support for Meritocracy, he could have easily played over 50 Ranji matches. He surely should have played in the Deodhar Trophy on the basis of his unmatched cricketing performance of that period but more ‘favoured’ names were chosen ahead of him. He bore it all then, silently and without any signs of annoyance, continued to persevere. And it is that same perseverance that is helping him now in his umpiring. While he has been umpiring for a dozen years in the domestic circuit, the Ranji knock out matches and Duleep /Deodhar Trophy matches - that eluded him during his playing days -have proved largely elusive once again. After having donned the fourth umpire’s hat in the 2014 edition of the IPL and then raising up to officiate in the Ranji Trophy Semi Final (along with Ananthapadmanabhan) in the 2016-17 season, it has been a long wait for Madanagopal for this IPL recall.
To stay away from the frustration of continuous rejection in the IPL, Madanagopal even made a trip to the Himalayas during the previous edition of this tourney that helped him find inner peace. Also during the umpiring off season, he got back into coaching engagement with a stint at the TNPL along with Gokulakrishnan.
This IPL will be a Stepping Stone for Madan
Finally, this year, Madanagopal will be part of the IPL once again. Former Elite Panel Umpire S Ravi (http://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2013/08/s-ravi-set-for-umpiring-test-debut.html) who has watched Madanagopal from close quarters for over a decade believes that this IPL could prove to be a turning point in his umpiring career.
Ravi told this writer from Rajkot on the eve of the Ranji Trophy Final that this fourth umpire opportunity in the IPL this year will be a great stepping stone for Madan and should boost his overall confidence “Madanagopal has had a few terrific years in umpiring. While things may not always go the way of umpires in terms of opportunities, one should continue to give his best when he is on field, which I think Madan has been doing over the years. Being alongside international umpires in this year’s IPL will help his Learning and Understanding even further and he should use to this to also improve his overall networking skills with players and umpires. This is a great opportunity for him to mingle with international umpires and to watch them perform in the backroom in terms of match preparation, handling high pressure situations, their way of managing conflicts and the manner in which they rise up to the challenges relating to Player and Match Management. This experience will hold him in good stead in his endeavour to further climb the Umpiring Ladder. The ride to the top and staying up there is not easy and Madan will have to show a great deal of patience. But he will be richer for the IPL experience.”
Madanagopal’s has been a great cricketing success story of a rank outsider from the districts playing over 30 first class matches for Tamil Nadu and being in the top ranks of the national average in domestic one day cricket in successive years. As an umpire, he has already officiated in around 60 Ranji Trophy matches. This IPL could just be the positive turnaround for Madanagopal, the Umpire.