Kerala's Best Cricketer now an International Umpire
Agraharam Boy from Thiruvananthapuram breaks into the International Umpiring League
The small town boy from the agraharam in Thiruvananthapuram (http://prtraveller.blogspot.in/2009/11/anantha-padmanabhaswamy-temple-in.html), to whom Marbles and Gilli Thanda were favourite pastimes in his school days and who went on to become Kerala’s best ever cricketer with his performances through the 1990s, has now become the First International umpire from the state. KN Ananthapadmanabhan has just been inducted into the international panel of umpires from India. It may be recalled that long standing Elite Panel Umpire S Ravi, with whom Ananthan umpired his first ever Ranji Trophy match has missed out from the international panel signifying an end to his international umpiring career (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/07/umpire-s-ravi-end-of-road.html).
Coaching vs Umpiring? - Year 2005-06
Like with his entry into cricket as a leg spinner, his foray into umpiring too was unplanned for. Soon after his retirement from Ranji Cricket in the middle of last decade and while he was actively playing for IOB in the first division league in Madras, there was an opportunity to coach the Kerala State team. He had played over a 100 first class matches and was one of the most respected cricketers. He would have been automatic choice as the coach of Kerala and it was lucrative as well. He was already a Level II coach at that time.
TNCA Umpire seeds the Umpiring thought into Ananthan
While he was pondering that decision, it was TNCA Umpire Gururajan who seeded the thought of umpiring into KN Ananthapadmanabhan. The BCCI were coming up with a special category for former first class cricketers and Gururajan thought that it would be a good opportunity for Ananthan to continue his engagement with cricket by becoming an umpire.
Gururajan had umpired many first division matches in the late 1990s including a Championship deciding match that IOB played against Jolly Rovers on a square turner. What Gururajan found particularly heartening in that phase was that not once did Ananthan question an umpiring decision. Throughout his playing career, be it a first division match or a Ranji match, he accepted the Umpire's verdict as final. IOB won that match by an innings beating Jolly Rovers, considered as giants in the city's first division league and went on to win the Palayampatti shield for the first time in their history under Ananthapadmanabhan's captaincy.
Gururajan also recounts Ananthapadmanabhan repeatedly enquiring about specifics in playing conditions during his playing days. He was always inquisitive of understanding the laws and the context in which it was meant. He earned a creditable name from the match officials for his onfield conduct during his playing days says Gururajan.
He also says that Anantha was also never shy to share the knowledge that he possessed. In one of the discussions, he told Gururajan in the late 1990s about the one of its kind forfeiture that was handed out by Andhra Captain Chamudeswaranath against Kerala ( captained that year by PT Subramaniam) and as to how the umpires of that time handled that rather amusing decision at that time ( while it was a one off decision in Indian Domestic cricket, forfeitures were a common feature in the English county cricket till the 1980s).
Ananthapadmanabhan too felt that being an umpire and a presence on field would be lot more engaging than a coaching role. Talking over phone from Thiruvananthapuram, he told this writer that he felt he would be in the thick of action as an umpire, understanding the emotions on the field, the pressures that the players went through and the need to make the right decision onfield. And it was this engagement onfield as an umpire that led him to shelve his thoughts on coaching and get into umpiring.
Mock Test ahead of BCCI examination
Gururajan prepared a Mock Test Paper ahead of the examination and engaged with Ananthan in this preparations. It was this that gave him the much needed confidence to face the exam (Over the last several years, Gururajan has been helping upcoming umpires in Tamil Nadu with Mock Tests ahead of BCCI examinations).
13 decisions in his debut match
These experiences led Gururajan to feel that Anantha would be best fitted to an umpiring career and hence sowed the thought of umpiring into Ananthapadmanabhan. He came out with flying colours in the BCCI exam conducted in 2006 securing exactly the same marks as his close friend and former South Zone cricketer J Madanagopal (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/10/madanagopal-j.html?m=1).
Gururajan actually went to watch Anantha's first league match as an umpire at PS High School ground much to his delight.
In his first Ranji match as an umpire, Ananthan handed out 13 decisions prompting his partner S Ravi, who later went on to become an Elite Panel umpire, to remark that he was continuing to ‘bag’ wickets even as an umpire just as he had as a bowler.
Ever since, he has made steady progress as an umpire. A few years back, Ananthapadmanabhan and Madanagopal officiated in the Ranji Trophy Semi Final (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/12/madanagopal-makes-next-big-jump-in.html?m=1). In March this year, just a few days before the lockdown, Ananthapadmanabhan umpired in the first ever Ranji Trophy Final. Co-incidentally, for S Ravi too it was a Ranji Final debut.
Umpiring both ends in Ranji Final
He calls this year's Ranji Final as his most memorabable moment in Umpiring. It was his debut final in Ranji, what he calls as the most prestigious domestic tournament in the country, and he was faced with the challenge of umpiring at both ends after Shamsuddin was injured on field. In a high pressure game that both teams desparately wanted to win, he was presented with a unique opportunity to umpire at both ends. It was also the first time that limited DRS was introduced in domestic cricket.The stakes were simply too high and he was in the thick of action as an umpire doing both ends. He says that it was an experience that he enjoyed thoroughly
In the last few years, he has become a regular at the IPL. To focus on his umpiring career and taking it up as a full time profession, Ananathapadmanabhan quit his bank job at IOB a few years ago. His colleague at IOB for over two decades R Rajesh Kannan too quit his job at IOB last year to pursue Umpiring as a full time career (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/08/bcci-umpire-quits-iob-after-25years.html?m=1).
End of last year, he was in South Africa as part of an exchange programme and officiated in matches there.
In the near term, he would have opportunities to umpire one day and T20 international cricket in India, officiating also in emerging tournaments across the globe and fourth umpire for tests in India. He is not looking too much beyond this which is always the way he has been.
Early days as a cricketer
Way back in the 1970s, there was no school cricket in Thiruvananthapuram. Only after he joined college, did he first hold a cricket ball in his hand. And his foray into cricket came under unique circumstances at the Under 19 selections in Thiruvananthapuram. At the trials, he presented himself as a wicket keeper for he had kept wickets for his first club team Chasers. But there was already a regular wicket keeper and this young 16 year old wouldn’t stand a chance as a keeper. He changed it to fast bowling but there were four established fast bowlers already!!! And then he thought he would register himself as an off spinner. But lo… there were off spinners as well.
Anantha in his youth
And thus destiny got the young 16 year old KN Ananthapadmanabhan to register himself as a leg spinner. He surprised everyone with the performance in his debut match. After helping his team recover from 35 for 7 with a typically dogged knock of 35, he spun out the U19 team from Quilon with 7 wickets for 7 runs helping Thiruvananthapuram win that inter districts match. And a new cricketing star had risen in Kerala, one who was to serve the state with distinction for almost 15years.
He made his Ranji Debut at 19 and in his first full season in 89-90 bagged two five wicket hauls against Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. A year later, he took 30 wickets in 5 games breaking into the top five wicket takers in India. His rich vein of form continued into the next season when he was once again in the top 10 wicket takers in the Ranji Trophy with 26 wickets.
Krishnaswamy ropes him into IOB
In this phase, he made the transition to Madras and played for SBI in the 1st division league. A year later he signed up for Chemplast. But that stint turned out to be a frustrating two years for Ananthapadmanabhan for he was vastly under bowled with the team favouring the local bowlers. Barath Reddy (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/11/bharath-reddy-players-man.html) did ask him to continue but Ananthan had had enough of it.
It was around that time that he got the call from V Krishnaswamy (http://prtraveller.blogspot.in/2016/08/krishnaswamy-v.html) at IOB asking if he could join the bank. It was a big decision for him and trusting Krishnaswamy, he quit Chemplast in the summer of 1993. Later he even rejected a four-fold increase in salary at India Cements that came in from its captain at that time VB Chandrasekar(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/01/vb-chandrasekar.html), such was the joy with which he had begun to play for IOB. That decade he captained the bank to its first Palayampatti shield
National Call remains Elusive
His performances in the Semi Final and Final of the Wills trophy Semi Final in the early 1990s led National Selector and legend GR Vishwanath to personally inform him that he was a good prospect for India and that his name was being discussed as a contender. It was the first time in its cricketing history that a player from Kerala had earned kudos on the national stage.
He continued to top the charts through the decade. In 96-97, he had his best year in Ranji Trophy taking 27 wickets and topping the batting charts with 597 runs including a double hundred. He also had a successful outing in the Challenger trophy in 1997-98 with an impressive 5 wicket haul against India Seniors. It was a phase where he was performing really well and one when he came closest to being selected for India. He was on the verge of national selection but the scales tilted in favour of Bombay’s Sairaj Bahutale. In 98-99, he topped both batting and bowling aggregate for Kerala, a rare occurrence indeed. In March 98, he bagged the scalps of Steve Waugh, Ponting and Lehmann in a match against the touring Aussies and within a year, he bagged a 5 wicket haul against Pakistan in front of his home fans in Kochi. Despite his strong performances through that decade, the national call remained elusive.
With his amma who has been a pillar of strength
Does not forget his roots
The down to earth that he has always remained, Ananthan, well into his 40s, came back to Thiruvanathapuram earlier this decade to play once again for Chasers, his first league team from the 1980s and took 6 wickets for 3 runs to stave them from relegation.
Kerala's Best Cricketer now an International Umpire
He was the first Kerala player to top the milestone of 2000runs and 200 wickets in Ranji Trophy. He signed off his Ranji career with a five wicket haul at his favourite town of Palakkad, where he had registered many memorable performances during his career. He was the first player from Kerala to play over a 100 matches. He took close to 350 wickets, a remarkable achievement. With a little more luck, he could have easily played for India as well during the 1990s.
As in his playing days, Ananthapadmanabhan continues to be extremely disciplined. The entire umpiring fraternity looks at his early dinner and sleep pattern as a role model for them to follow.
It has been a 14 year dream for Anananthapadmanabhan to become an international umpire. The feeling of this latest appointment has still not sunk in fully with TV Channels across Kerala hounding him for interviews following the announcement of his induction. For the moment, his focus is on doing justice to the international matches he is likely to umpire in India and enjoying that experience.The leggie from the Agraharam in Thiruvanathapuram narrowly missed playing for the country but soon Ananthan will be officiating as an Indian Umpire in an international match. And that will be a proud moment for Kerala, a state that for decades was considered as minnows of Indian cricket.