Sport - Cricket

‘Umpires role crucial at junior level’

Bangalore: Rahul Dravid said that umpires have a critical role especially while supervising at the junior level.

“In this day of live television coverage, a bit of showboating happens in international cricket and kids watching it might pick up the wrong things.

“As umpires you have a critical role in imparting a sense of fairness among the players, make them aware of the spirit of the game and if need be, deal them with a firm hand.

“At the junior level, umpires can also help spot talent as you are in the best position to judge a player and we trust you would bring that same lack of bias in evaluating talent as you do while imparting decisions,” Dravid told a packed P2 Hall at the Chinnaswamy Stadium during the course of the Association of Cricket Umpires Karnataka’s (ACUK) umpires day function here on Sunday night.

The other chief guest at the function, Satish Vishwanathan of The Times of India praised the umpires for their contribution to sport and exhorted the need for a better understanding between umpires and players and also to keep mistakes to the minimum while taking decisions.

The ACUK president Ravi Subramanyam requested members of his fraternity to desist from umpiring in private tournaments, wished Shavir Tarapore faster growth within the ICC panel of umpires and requested the media to also praise good decisions while being critical of bad calls.

The ACUK honoured umpires, former and present, for their contribution to the game. They are: B.R. Keshava Murthy, P.A. Charles, N.S. Ramanna, Shavir Tarapore, B.K. Ravi, Bheemacharya, Gururaja Rao, N. Krishnamurthy, P.S. Nagarajan and S. Vijaya Prakash.

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