KB Ramaswamy Test Umpire

Thiruvallikeni boy, who did his entire schooling at Hindu High school and lived all his life in this historical temple location near the Parthasarathy Perumal temple, started out as an umpire in the 1950s more for the love of the game and went on to achieve way beyond his dreams in becoming an international umpire in the 1970s at a time when test match opportunities were not easily forthcoming for umpires from the state.

Soon after his intermediate at Loyola College, Kondathur Bashyam Ramaswamy, whose forefathers hailed from a small village near Chengalpattu, joined British firm Best & Crompton Engineering in the accounts division as an assistant clerk in the late 1940s. While he played a bit of league cricket for Crombest, he did not make a big mark as a player and hence moved into Umpiring and passed the examination in the 1950s.  

At a fee of Rs. 2 per day, he began umpiring lower division league matches in Madras and then over a period of time graduated to the first division. He was a cricket fanatic and for decades spent the weekends at the cricket grounds.  Well over a decade after he became an umpire, he moved into the next level and became a BCCI umpire. 

Ramaswamy will be 94 in a couple of months and does not move out much these days but the matches from the 1970s are still fresh in his memories as he recalls the glorious decade in his life to this writer “S Sriraman played a big role in my career as he motivated me to take to umpiring in a serious way. Opportunities were not too many in those years and I got only a couple of Ranji matches every season but like all youngsters I was crazy about cricket and he told me that umpiring would be a good way to be associated with the game. I was also involved in supporting him with background work during all the test matches at Chepauk.”

While Ramaswamy could not play alongside the top guns of TN cricket, he counts as a blessing watching them in action from 22yards“What a sight it was to umpire Kalli, VVK and Venkat in those days. They were so competitive and even a league match was like a test match, such was the pressure. KR Rajagopal was an ultimate delight and did not give the square leg umpire more than a milli second as he whipped the bails in a flash even while standing up to fast bowlers.”

He still remembers the many 'encounters' he had with Venkat “He was a thorough professional and set the highest standards in cricket. He raised the bar for umpires as he knew every law in the book. It was never easy umpiring to his bowling as he would bring up every law point in the cricket book and usually umpires did not answers to his questions.”

TN middle order batsman from the 1980s who was on the verge of a India debut in 1984, R Madhavan, recalls one such encounter with Venkat"It was a match at ICF. With a buffalo entering the ground, Venkat refused to bowl until KBR sent the invading animal out. A bit taken aback by Venkat's decision,  KBR,  in his typical Thiruvallikeni slang, told Venkat that 'its not my job'."

Ramaswamy says that matches involving SBI were particularly challenging. VVK and Chandru were top bowlers and I had to face a barrage of appeals when they were in action. Legendary leggie VV Kumar remembers those matches "I had the opportunity to play under his supervision at least 50 times in many different tournaments. He was most affable, but steadfast in his decisions. I had many altercations, on the field, all in good spirit.  He had the knack of spotting the chucker, and quite often ended up in the frying pan. He was an ardent supporter of S Sriraman.”

Post lunch sessions were always a challenge especially when VV bowled. Opening batsman S Kedarnath recalls ‘funny’ moments during a big Buchi Babu Trophy “VVK led SBI was playing a strong Rusi Modi side at Christian College ground. A sumptuous meal was on offer during lunch on day 2. While KBR would usually bring ‘Thiruvallikeni’ famous Thayir Saatham with Milagai for lunch, the Bisibela Bath of Modern Cafe was simply irresistible. VVK was already quite upset that such tasty food was being offered to all the players as it would impact their action on the field. When he saw KBR too taking to this food, his anger knew no bounds. He went up to the umpire and asked if it was the '4th round of Bisibela' and 3rd round of Gulab Jamun. He expected a poor performance in the 2nd session."

His international debut came in quite unexpected circumstances. He performed voluntary service at the TNCA during the test matches and had worked late into the night at Chepauk to get things organised for the next day in the India v NZ test match in November 1976. It was a big surprise the next morning when he received the 'emergency' call. He recalls that call  that got him into the Umpire's attire on day 2 of the test against Glenn Turner’s New Zealand at Chepauk “Umpire Sharma could not make it from Delhi. After the first day’s play was washed out, Gothaskar fell ill on the 2nd morning. As I was based in Madras, I was called in and that’s how I made my international debut as an umpire. It was a great experience to officiate at Chepauk and watch GRV in action. I also had the privilege of watching the legend Richard Hadlee bowl in my very first test as an international umpire.”

A couple of months later, he had a more planned  umpiring assignment as he was assigned the touring Englishmen’s match against Bombay at Indore.

That summer, he umpired in the Ranji Trophy final, a match that he counts as one of the big moments in his life “It was a star studded line up Gavaskar, Mankads and Solkar for Bombay and Chauhan, Amarnaths and Bedi for Delhi, among others. I never dreamt of officiating a Ranji match let alone a final. When I did get the opportunity, I was standing there in the middle watching the who’s who of Indian cricket battle it out for the biggest in domestic cricket.”

At the start of the 1977-78 season, he got another big break this time to officiate in the Duleep Trophy and he watched big hundreds from Gavaskar and Vengsarkar. A few months later, he had the privilege of umpiring the finals of the Wills one day tournament at Chepauk. One day cricket was at a nascent stage and he says it was a new and exciting experience to officiate in a 60 over final.

In Dec 1978, he got an opportunity to watch the 2nd rung West Indies team in action, though he was to watch a top notch World beating West Indies in action 5 years later in his last season as a first class umpire. He was in Hyderabad for South Zone's match against Windies and then went on to officiate the 5th test in Delhi.

1979-80 was a big year for Ramaswamy in terms of international exposure. He began with North Zone’s match against Kim Hughes’s Australians, once again a 2nd rung team as like with the Windies, the first XI was away with WSC that was making waves in that phase. 

In the 2nd test at Bangalore in September, he no balled the temperamental Rodney Hogg for over stepping multiple times “After I repeatedly called out, he got annoyed and knocked the stumps out of the ground. Immediately I called for the captain and asked him to relay the stumps which Hughes willingly did. It was one of the most controversial moments in my umpiring career.”

A month later, after once against umpiring North Zone against a visiting team, this time Pakistan, he watched the legendary Imran and Javed in action in the third test in Bombay. He also had the privilege of watching a young Abdul Qadir bowl in that test.“With big stars in action and as with an India v Pak encounter, it was tense and a number of appeals through the match but I look back with pride in the way I officiated and came through unscathed.”

That international season ended with him umpiring the final test at Eden Gardens, an unforgettable experience for him in front of the biggest crowd he had seen with Asif Iqbal's controversial declaration and a chase on the final day “The Bengalis were very hospitable and one of the best in the country. I always enjoyed umpiring there. My special memories are of watching Sandeep Patil in full flow and he gave glimpses of his class in both the innings. He was a delightful batsman and one of the most stylish I had seen in my umpiring career.”

He umpired the Irani Trophy match in 1980.

He umpired in Srikkanth’s test debut in Bombay that was marked by his ‘funny’ runout. Ramaswamy recalls that shocking moment when the opener who he had umpired in many matches in the TNCA league strolled out casually "I was at the bowler's end and it was Swaroop who made that decision. Srikkanth was taking a quiet stroll like he always did in the league matches here but the Englishmen took advantage of this and ran him out though he was not attempting a run."

In October 83, he was involved in more controversy as he walked into the ground in the 2nd innings without the new ball. He defends the decision “During the innings break, we asked the Indian captain to select the new ball but he was in the rest room and six minutes into the break, we had to walk on to the ground. Kapil then brought the new ball with him which did swing a lot and he ran through their top order. It did not go well with West Indian captain Clive Lloyd but I justified my decision." 

Throughout the 1970s and 80s, he was assigned by Sriraman the task of taking care of the Life Members during the Tests at Chepauk. Ranji Cricketer from the 1960s SVS Mani has high words of praise for KBR in this role "He was a good human being. He was in-charge of the life members and did an excellent job during test matches."

After his retirement, he played an office manager’s role at Narasimha Priya for over two decades.

Madhavan is appreciative of his service rendered at the TNCA over several years "He was a good human being and carried out honorary service during test matches without expecting any returns. He had genuine love for the game and his decades of standing in the hot Madras sun officiating in local league matches is testimony to that."

At 94, Ramaswamy is fit physically and his memories from his umpiring phase remains fresh "Cricket was a way of life for me and I spent over three decades at cricket grounds.”

He says that he may have made mistakes on the field but he remained true to his conscience when he handed out the decisions “I was honest as an umpire. I was not overawed by the status of the players and did not try to please any player however big he was. I put in a lot of hard work into my umpiring and grew to the international level through perseverance at a time when those outside South dominated. I enjoyed the test matches I umpired."

He counts Hanumant Rao and PR Punjabi as two of the umpires he respected during his first class and international umpiring phase. Among the players he officiated in the 1970s and early 80s, he says Sandeep Patil was the most destructive batsman, Prasanna and Bedi the best spinners, Ghavri a challenging bowler for an umpire coming from left arm over and Gavaskar the finest batsman. Among all the TN players of the time, he reserves the highest praise for the current Chairman of Selectors “Vasu was a shrewd captain and a great character on the field.”

Despite some ‘battles’ on the field with the bowlers, Ramaswamy says that it was a very satisfying decade or so for him in first class cricket having umpired Ranji, Duleep and Irani Trophy matches, in addition to the 8 tests he officiated in. He had never dreamed big but says his hard work paid off and he looks back with a lot of pride in the way he handled the players. He did not buckle under the pressure of big international stars such as Lloyd, Imran or Hughes. His biggest moment in umpiring came when both Kim Hughes and Rodney Hogg appreciated his sincerity and boldness in his decision making at the end of the 1979 test series. And that for Ramaswamy remains etched in his memory.