THE BEST TEST UMPIRE INDIA NEVER HAD

 IVATURI SIVARAM

By V Ramnarayan

 Most of us are familiar with stories of unfair treatment of some cricketers by the selectors, but Hyderabad’s Ivaturi Sivaram’s story is one of rank injustice done to an umpire.   Many Indian cricketers of the last three decades have felt that Sivaram was one of the best umpires they have come across. Ravi Shastri, for instance, was once quoted as saying, “Sivaram is the future.” 65-year-old Sivaram who retired from cricket in 2009, has however never stood in a Test match, never been nominated to the ICC panel of on-field umpires, and was dropped from the ICC panel of TV umpires without a trial. 

Starting unusually young and performing with distinction for three decades, Sivaram was in a manner of speaking an umpire in the S Venkataraghavan mould, tall and erect, intensely focussed on his job, firm in his decision making based on sound theoretical and practical knowledge. In the early part of his umpiring career, he was often younger than the players in the matches he was officiating in, though evidently quite unfazed by that. His confidence and integrity stood out so clearly that few players, if any, questioned his decisions, while few of his decisions left room for dissent.  

I was always an admirer of Sivaram who stood in some of the matches I played in the 1970s. I was so impressed that I expected him to walk effortlessly into international duty. Little did I know then that he would receive a raw deal in his career, that umpires too were like players subject to the whims and fancies of authority, that Sivaram would one day be “hanged without a trial,” (the headline of a TOI story by Sumit Mukherjee of how Sivaram was axed from the ICC panel of TV umpires without a single opportunity in a whole series) much in the manner of players who move in and out of a 15-man squad without playing a single match on a whole tour or in a complete tournament. Though Sivaram officiated in ODIs in India, his Test chances never came, not even after he was unofficially asked to be ready to umpire in a particular Test match in 1986. Not unusual in Indian cricket, the job went to another, senior, umpire who pleaded for one last game. “Sivaram was after all young, with a bright future ahead of him, so he could afford to wait,” was the argument. The Test match debut never came.

 Sivaram is made of sterner stuff. He not only took his disappointments in his stride, but after his retirement from umpiring, resumed his affair with an earlier love—music. I was thrilled to learn from an article by N Jagannath Das in Telangana Today, that Sivaram is a veena vidwan. The umpire who refused to pull strings to enhance his cricket career has gone back to playing that string instrument of antiquity that still adorns south Indian classical music, having learnt the art first from his mother in his pre-teen years, and later from the music of the late maestro Chittibabu, who called Sivaram his Ekalavya sishya or long distance disciple. His mother 

Mrs I Chellayi was an A grade artiste of All India Radio and a lecturer in the Government Music College of Secunderabad. Sivaram joined the college as a student at age 12 and completed a three-year certificate course. He was only 22 when his hero Chittibabu allowed him to accompany him on the veena in an album entitled Musings of a Musician, in which the percussion accompaniment was provided by eminent musicians Guruvayur Dorai, Kamalakar Rao and Manjunath. Sivaram cherishes the memory of “the experience of practising with my guru and those stalwarts.”

Sivaram was undoubtedly a boy prodigy. And not just in music, for he first umpired in the Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup tournament of Hyderabad when barely 17, even before he had formally qualified as an umpire. His inspiration came from his father, the late IVS Sastry, an enthusiastic amateur sportsman and umpire in the Hyderabad cricket league, and his uncle, the late Ramana Rao a BCCI umpire. Ramana Rao first allowed Sivaram the opportunity to co-umpire a local league match with him when he was just 15. “You will be a better umpire than player,” he told the young wicket keeper-batsman, and before long, he was standing in that Gold Cup match in 1971, thrilled to watch the greats of the day like ML Jaisimha, Hanumant Singh, EAS Prasanna, BS Chandrasekhar and GR Viswanath from close quarters. A rare combination of cricketing genes and musical genes, Sivaram owes much in his growth as an umpire to Ramana Rao and Test umpire VK Ramaswamy, his “role model.”

 Having qualified as a BCCI panel umpire by 1978, Sivaram made his Duleep Trophy debut in 1986, and did his first ODI in 1994.  He made steady progress and earned appreciation at every stage from players, officials and visiting commentators. A memorable stumping decision involving New Zealander Roger Twose in a 1995 ODI that he made without referring to the TV umpire won him compliments from commentator Ian Smith and match referee GR Viswanath. English umpire David Sheppard was one of his seniors who had a good word for him. An unforgettable moment came during his Duleep Trophy debut, when his explanation of Sunil Gavaskar’s dismissal on 94 earned him an approving nod and a tap on his shoulder. “How did I miss that ball?” the Little Master had asked the young umpire.

It must be a huge disappointment not ever officiating in a Test match, a rude shock to have been dropped from the ICC Panel without a single opportunity to prove himself on the field, but Ivaturi has taken all that on his chin like a good soldier, secure in the knowledge that he performed admirably throughout a distinguished umpiring career in first class matches, mentored umpires through workshops, officiated in the inaugural IPL season and contributed in numerous ways to improvement in umpiring standards. Now in his second innings as a musician, he has always enjoyed the blessings of his mother who at 90 still mentors him, and the lifelong support of wife Venkataramani and brother Kanakachalam in all he does.