Rajesh Kannan IPL Umpire

This honest and straight forward cricketer makes his mark in Umpiring

It's mid February and the biggest match in the life of this down to earth umpire from Mylapore, Chennai. And he has a surprise visitor in his room at tea time. Former India star and captain of Bombay Ajinkya Rahane has himself come to meet Rajesh Kannan. The reason - Rahane, who has had a terrible season as a batsman, has just been given out obstructing the field. Rajesh is unflustered at this star batsman making a polite enquiry and explains the reasoning behind his decision and stands by it. That is Rajesh Kannan for you. He played fierce cricket for IOB for two decades in the first division league in the city but with a great deal of honesty. He is as straight as it comes and does not mince words irrespective of stature of the person on the other side. He also once, just under two decades ago, innocently asked B Kalyanasundaram (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2011/08/kalli-b-kalyanasundaram.html) as to what cricket he had played when the two were selectors at the U17 level.

On the back of his strong showing in the Ranji Trophy this season including in this match between Bombay and Assam, Rajesh has made the big leap in umpiring. 

From a rank outsider as a cricketer to an IPL Umpire

He was a rank outsider in the mid 1980s with no backing in those early days. Very few in the cricketing circles knew him. He did not have a cricket kit of his own. He was not financially strong. But he made up for all this with a determination that indicated very early on that he would succeed against all odds.In those early years in the 1980s, he would walk all the way from Saidapet to play matches over the weekend and during the summer against a little more fancied YMCA (TSR) team at the YMCA ground in Nandanam. Other times he would catch the crowded 45B bus to Nandanam. But he was always on time and raring to go and prove himself against the more established players. Almost every match, he would take his team to victory single handedly from precarious position that he would find his team in. Many a ball was dispatched into the tennis court on the Western side and the YMCA boys had to jump the wired fencing to fetch the ball back. 

Close to 40 years after this writer first played against him in a Saturday match at YMCA, R. Rajesh Kannan (Kanna to all the cricketers in those days) has just received news that he will be officiating in this year's IPL as a fourth umpire, quite a significant achievement for a quiet and low profile cricketer. It is 11.30pm and Rajesh is fast asleep. He is woken up by an email notification and as he opens the mail, he is all excited to read that he has been assigned the fourth umpire role in the IPL this year. 

It is a big moment in his life after what he went through during the Pandemic and what he had to endure from a lot of his bank colleagues and relatives.  The national lockdown came at the worst moment for Rajesh. It was only six months earlier that he had quit a high paying manager’s job at IOB, where he had worked for 25years.  He could not straddle between working late as a manager at the branch and umpiring cricket matches. When BCCI began to assign women’s matches that required travelling across the country in the 2019-20 season, he found it challenging to take off from the Bank for many months. With the prospect of an umpiring career ahead of him, he quit the job to focus full time on umpiring. 

When he informed his non cricketing colleagues at the bank about his decision, each of them asked him if he was quitting the job to umpire in the IPL and if he would be officiating in matches with Simon Taufel. His relatives too were looking for to him umpiring in the IPL for they thought that cricket did not exist outside of the IPL.

The Pandemic impact 

However, the pandemic dealt a severe blow to Rajesh and his umpiring dreams. He neither had cricket matches to umpire nor the bank job to continue his flourishing career in the banking space. He spent hours with this writer walking at the Nageswara Rao Park unsure of his future and wondering repeatedly if he took a wrong decision to quit the Bank job. It was a tumultuous 2020 for Rajesh with him spending most of his time in anxiety and constantly reviewing this big decision he took the previous year. Lord Hanuman of Alamelumangapuram, where he has been residing over the last few decades, was the one he looked up to for confidence in that phase. 

Makes up for lost time - Graduates to Ranji

He managed to somehow wade through that phase patiently waiting for cricket to resume.  When it did, he spent a lot of time in background work – focusing on his physical fitness, continuously working on 3rd umpire simulations with TNCA umpire Rakesh Raghavan, improving his communication skills and learning the protocol aspects relating to umpiring at the highest level. He also worked very closely with senior umpires such as his old colleague KN Ananthapadmanabhan and JR Madanagopal (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/10/madanagopal-j.html) who he says were always ready and immediately available to clarify complex umpiring scenarios. When he began to umpire the BCCI matches once again, the negative thoughts about quitting a secure bank job became history and in the last couple of years, he has made rapid strides on the umpiring front. 

Rajesh graduated to officiating in the national U23 tournament including in the knock out this year (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/02/rajesh-kannan-ranji-debut.html).  He umpired in the entire set of league matches in the Vijay Hazare national one day tournament this season and did well. Good performances in the plate group of the Ranji Trophy in 22-23 led him to moving up the ladder into the Elite group this year. In the meanwhile, he also officiated in the TNPL including gaining experience as third umpire and the DRS.

Now an International umpire  Ananthapadmanabhan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/09/ananthapadmanabhan-kn.html) watched Rajesh Kannan closely through the 1990s and the 2000s when the two played together for IOB. “Rajesh is someone who takes a lot of pride in whatever he does - from representing the IOB team in cricket to being a Banker and now as an Umpire. He always tries to get better and give his best. I wish him the very best for the forthcoming IPL season” Anantha told this writer this week.

The terrible times of the Pandemic seem to be distant memory for Rajesh. It will now be an entirely new experience of officiating in the IPL, with the fourth umpire role being the entry point and he can now proudly go back to his non cricketing colleagues at IOB and tell them that he indeed will now be officiating in the IPL!!!

Best Wishes to Rajesh Kannan in his new assignment.

https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2015/06/rajesh-kannan-bcci-board-umpire.html