Madanagopal makes international debut as Fourth Umpire in Ind v Eng One dayers, Set to get into IPL (on-field) this year
He is rated as one of the best umpires in India, will be part of the IPL Onfield Panel this year and am confident that he will do well - KS Viswanathan, CEO, CSK and former Hony Secretary, TNCA
It has been long due. 15 years after his BCCI debut as an umpire, former South Zone middle order batsman and now a top BCCI Umpire JR Madanagopal has finally made it to the international scene. He made his debut as a fourth umpire yesterday at the second one day international match between India and England in Pune. He will be a reserve umpire for the third and deciding one dayer to be played tomorrow (Sunday) at the same ground.
Two decades ago, Madanagopal was among the top run getters in domestic One Day Cricket. Following his retirement from cricket, he moved into umpiring a decade and a half ago. He made rapid strides in Umpiring in the initial years with an IPL call within the first two years of the launch of the IPL. However, he did not get the deserved chances over the last decade. He has recently once again broken into the BCCI Top 20 Umpires Panel. Exactly a year ago, he was to make it once again into the IPL as a fourth umpire but the national lockdown and the moving of the IPL into Dubai meant that only limited number of officials went into the bio bubble last year.
This call for the international matches just ahead of the IPL augurs well for him.
Since the time he wrote the BCCI examination in 2006, KN Ananthapadmanabhan and Madanagopal, where they secured identical marks, have officiated together in many important matches. In 2016-17, the two of them officiated together in the Ranji Semi Final, a first for Madan. Ananthapadmanabhan (KN Anantha) had told this writer in 2016 that he and Madan were constantly engaged in intellectual discussions on umpiring over the last many years and they continue to do that to this day. Interestingly, once again, when Madan is making his entry as the fourth umpire in an international match, Ananthapadmanabhan is near side him ( as onfield / 3rd umpire).
Madan to be on field Umpire in IPL
Nine Years ago, in 2012, KS Viswanathan, now CEO of CSK, had told this writer from Calcutta that Madanagopal was the best (first class) player turned umpire he had seen after the legendary S Venkataraghavan/ in the previous 15years. He told this writer today that Madanagopal will be part of the on field panel in the IPL this year “He is rated as one of the best umpires in India. Being a first class cricketer of repute, I am very confident that he will do very well in umpiring.”