When my club cricket mate rises to become an ICC International panel umpire

By K.R. Nayar

Leg spinner K.N. Ananthapadmanabhan, who missed becoming an Indian team player has risen to become one of the Emirates ICC International Panel of Umpires. His rise to find a place among the top umpires in the world is an inspiring tale of a cricketer’s deep passion for the game despite many disappointments. It is a great feeling recalling my days of club cricket with this amazingly inspiring cricketer.

K.N. Ananthapadmanabhan 

K.N. Ananthapadmanabhan, whom I used to address as ‘Ananthan’ during our club cricket days, has risen to become one of the Emirates ICC International Panel Umpires. His career is an inspiring tale and a message to all those who play cricket that the game will never leave you as long as you don’t leave it.

Ananthapadmanabhan had to encounter the disappointment of not making it to the Indian team despite sterling performances in domestic cricket, but he played the game with a heart full of love for the sport.  Without giving up his passion, he worked his way to be involved in international matches, something that he missed as a player, in a manner that he will be someone who will officiate the match.  He will go on to spend more time being part of international cricket than other domestic cricketers who went past him to become international players.

Ananthapadmanabhan was among India's finest leg spinners 

Ananthapadmanabhan was one of the finest leg spinners in domestic cricket and knows the tricks to beguile a batsman, and is himself a good batsman who has also scored centuries. His knowledge of the game, backed by an intense love for the sport, is set to elevate him to even greater heights in umpiring.

Our relationship goes back to the days when we played club cricket in Trivandrum (now Thiruvananthapuram). Ananthapadmanabhan played for the Chasers Cricket Club while I was a member of the Caravan Cricket Club. Like most of us in club cricket, he used to do everything including keeping wickets. His brother K.N. Balasubramaniam bowled fast but Ananthapadmanabhan preferred leg-spin. Being a thinking cricketer from a very young age and someone who could generate very good spin, he was picked to play for all the different age-group Kerala state teams.

Ananthapadmanabhan (third from left) with Chasers Cricket Club youngsters 

Ananthapadmanabhan bowled brilliantly in Ranji Trophy matches and also scored runs to prove himself as a fine allrounder. Unfortunately, luck did not favour him though he kept knocking at the doors of the Indian team with great spells in domestic cricket. The presence of legendary leg-spinner Anil Kumble in the Indian team resulted in the selectors unable to pick him. He went on to bag 344 wickets in first-class cricket and even captained the Kerala team, played for South Zone, and the India A team. He scored three centuries including a double century.

Not willing to give up despite not getting selected into the Indian team, he continued to play for the sheer love of the game and gave his best. I have been tracking his career and whenever he produced deadly spells, I felt proud that someone with whom I'd played had gone on to scare top batsmen with his spin, especially his googlies. Many international cricketers have praised his skills, but he always remained a humble human being. 

Once he asked me: “Do you remember telling me to bowl an off- stump line when I started as a leg spinner for the Trivandrum Under-19 team years ago?” I was touched that he remembered my suggestion. He then added: “It’s still fresh in my mind although it happened years ago. It's never too late to say thank you!”

At the time when Ananthapadmanabhan started making heads turn with his bowling skill, I had qualified as a Kerala state panel umpire. Along with Jose Kurishinkal, who was the first umpire from Kerala to officiate in international matches, we conducted umpiring classes in different districts of Kerala wanting more people to take up umpiring. Years later when Ananthapadmanabhan took up umpiring, Jose and I were thrilled because we realised he had decided not to leave the cricket field despite his career as a player coming to an end. He proved that a  true lover of the game never leaves a cricket arena.

Years after he became an umpire, he once told me: “I gained almost everything in my life from cricket. God has been kind to me that I was able to play 17 years for Kerala. There were many bad moments but the good ones remain memorable.” So dedicated was he to the game that he even set up his own cricket academy to groom youngsters.

Anandapadmanabhan guiding youngsters at his cricket academy 

There was a time when many brothers from Trivandrum played for the Kerala Ranji Trophy team. S. Ramesh, S. Santosh, and S. Rajesh were the trio brothers. Then there was N.S. Godwin. P.T. Godwin and J.Y Godwin. Ananthapadmanabhan and his brother Balasubramaniam together played in a Ranji Trophy match at Visakhapatnam in Kerala against Andhra Pradesh. There is an interesting incident from this match played in November 1990. They created the longest scorecard entry leaving scorers struggling to record their long names.  When Andhra’s Chamundeswaranathan got out it, it read: Chamundeswaranath c Balasubramaniam b Ananthapadmanabhan.  For newspapers that insisted on players' full names, it was even tougher as all the three had long names, and the match report said 'Vankina Chamundeswaranath was caught by Karumanaseri Narayanaiyer Balasubramaniam off Karumanaseri Narayanaiyer Ananthapadmanabhan!'

Right now 50-year-old Ananthapadmanabhan is all set for long days in the middle and may end up as a man who never left a cricket field since the seventies.