Mumbai: The introduction of Twenty20 cricket in February 2005 kick-started a major evolution in the gentleman’s game. The sport, along with its players saw new rules coupled with improvised cricketing shots and deliveries. Lethal fast bowlers started leaking runs, batsmen’s strike rate soared.
But many overlooked the umpires.
Of late, umpires have been raising eyebrows for poor decisions. English adjudicator Richard Illingworth’s no-ball call — during the recent Test between New Zealand and Australia — stirred the cricket world.
Ever since Decision Review System (DRS), unveiled during the India-Sri Lanka Test in 2008 generated a debate regarding decisions – an umpire’s credibility came under scanner.
“DRS has nothing to do with credibility of umpires. Earlier too umpires used to make mistakes, not that today mistakes are happening more. It’s just because of technology that you now can notice our mistakes. In fact these days, mistakes are less,” says Marcus Couto, a BCCI Panel Umpire, who has officiated over 1200 domestic matches and two women’s international matches in his 37 years said.
A Gold medallist in Cricket Umpiring exam conducted by the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) in 1981, 55-year-old Marcus is no ordinary gentleman. One of his greatest stories does not have to deal with his umpiring skills. He broke the news that Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli's 664-run partnership in the Harris Shield tournament in February 1988 was a world record.
Sachin, Kambli and Ricky on the ground. (Photo: Ricky Couto)
The discovery also brought to the fore The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Scorers of India (ACSSI), founded in 1987 by Marcus and Shirish Konkar.
While Marcus might have discovered Sachin and Kambli’s feat, he stands no chance in front of his brother Ricky, a state-level umpire with MCA for 26 years and one who can proudly boast of sitting on the same bench in school along with Sachin and Kambli.
Sachin, Ricky and Kambli sitting on a school bench. (Photo: Ricky Couto)
So when the brothers got together for a chat amidst the lush green lawns at the historic Cricket Club of India, they spoke about the young and mischievous Sachin – full of mirth, apart from scrutinising umpires.
Ricky, Sachin and Kambli’s meeting was an unplanned one. The trio studied together at Shardashram Vidyamandir in Dadar.
“I was studying at St Joseph’s Wadala, Sachin at IES King George in Bandra and Kambli was in Our Lady of Dolours in Marine Lines. Kambli used to travel from Kanjur Marg to Marine Lines. We all used to practice with Achrekar sir (Ramakant Achrekar) at Shivaji Park. And sir told us, if you all want to play good cricket, you will have to join Shardashram high school. That very day we all took a decision and joined Shardashram. This was in 1986/87 when we were in the seventh standard and from there began our friendship,” said Ricky, who holds the Limca Book record for the youngest umpire to pass a cricket umpire’s exam in India at 16 years and 116 days.
Sachin along with Ricky playing pool. (Photo: Ricky Couto)
The Couto brothers have garnered rich experience sending batsmen on their way or pulling them up for not keeping their foot within the popping crease.
While players, including Indian Cricket Team’s ODI skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni have slammed umpires and their decisions, the veteran umpire-brothers each adopted a hot and cold approach to their response.
“It is all said during the heat of the moment. But after sometime everything is forgotten. The standard of umpiring has gone up,” added Ricky, who also holds another Limca Book record for the most number of cricket neck ties (547).
“Filing a complaint on a particular umpire is wrong. Cricket is a game of mistakes, what about the catches dropped. I can show in every match there maybe about 101 mistakes,” Marcus, who has also officiated for five seasons in the Yorkshire League asserted.
“An umpire will commit a mistake. We are also human beings. If an umpire’s decision has been overturned, at the end of the day he is happy because players don’t crib because of the mistake,” Marcus, who has penned down a dozen books on cricket, pointed out.
The East Indian brothers have seen umpiring evolve and come under intense scrutiny from media and player fraternity alike. Sledging from players too has been on a steady rise but Marcus does say sledging was equally tough to control back in the days.
“Sledging was the worst during our days. In the initial years, we had a very tough time. We had match referees coming to our aid,” he said.
Talking about an unpleasant situation, Marcus recalled a Ranji Trophy match at Permit Ground in Balasore between Orissa and Bengal in 1997.
“My partner Jaduvendrasingh Jadeja, standing in his 85th BCCI match and I were officiating that match. That year Ganguly (Sourav Ganguly) had won lots of Man of the Match awards from Canada and had just returned from there. I was shocked to see about eight to ten thousand people gathered to see a Ranji trophy match. Debashish Mohanty was the local hero there along with Sanjay Raul and SS Das. Robin Morris was making his debut for Orissa as a professional. Raul was leading the side (for Orissa). For Bengal we had Ganguly, Devang Gandhi, Nikhil Haldipur, Rohan Gavaskar, Saba Karim, Utpal Chatterjee and other stars.
“Suddenly my partner gave Karim out caught and bowled off Morris, but the batsman refused to walk. My partner looked at me and I signalled to him that’s it’s a clear catch. Karim said, “I won’t go.”
My partner came to me and asked, ‘kya karenge? (what to do).’
And Ganguly was the next man in and at the boundary line he was hopping and warming up but not entering the field of play. I told my partner that if he does not come in the next minute, we give him timed out. Devang was at the non-striker’s end and he shouted at Ganguly in Bengali to hurry up or else he would be timed out. Ganguly ran and we avoided the situation,” Marcus remembered.
What made matters worse during that frightful day was the absence of a match-referee.
“Surender Khanna was out match referee. He said that the place was very far so he did not come. As there was no match referee, that match was the biggest nightmare for us as umpires,” Marcus said.
If players are barging umpires on the field, a cue from young Sachin’s mannerisms on the pitch could be taken.
“My many decisions went against Sachin. The first time when I saw him at Matunga Gymkhana, he was around 13. He was playing a club match at Matunga and I had given him run out. He just looked at me and went back. Next day he told Ricky in school, ‘Your brother was standing very far, and he felt he was not run-out.’ On the field of play, he never reacted. He used to come to the dressing room many times and told me, you have erred, it was not a snick, or the ball was hitting outside the leg stump,” Marcus, who now also shares a close association with the Little Master said.
Kambli, Sachin and Ricky in front of their school bus at Shardashram Vidyamandir. (Photo: Ricky Couto)
Marcus also believes that a bit of sledging is required in today’s cricket “or else the batsman will go on playing.”
“The limit depends on the umpire. If the umpire wants to nip it in the bud or let it go. He has to have it in control or else it will come to blows,” he said.
So what is the most difficult decision for the both of them?
Ricky believes catches at short-leg, Marcus opines stumping as difficult decisions.
But the highlight of the elder Couto’s ‘tight’ decision was during a match involving Virender Sehwag between Delhi and Punjab at Feroz Shah Kotla ground in 2015.
“I officiated that Ranji one-dayer. Players such as Sehwag, Gambhir, Chand, Nehra, and from Punjab Jiswanjot Singh, Yuvaj Singh and Harbhajan Singh were fighting for a berth in the Indian Cricket team. In the evening after nets, two days before the match, Sehwag came and greeted me. I told him I have a plan to start a cricket school like his in Bombay, a school where children can play cricket and also study. He told me to come to his school in Jhajjar (a district in Haryana). I told him I would go the next morning.
“The car came exactly at 6. It’s a long distance from Delhi to Jhajjar. I went there and I saw the school set up. He didn’t tell me the plus points, he told me the weaknesses. I reached back in the evening and the next day was the match. During the initials overs he was out caught behind and it was not a sneak, it was a cut. I gave him out, he waited. I wondered whether I have made a mistake. And all the thoughts about the school visit came flashing back. Viru waited and came running with the bat to me. ‘Sir kal kya tha khane mein, namak kam tha ya mirchi jyada thi?’ (Sir, what was in your food yesterday, was it a less of salt or a lot of chillies?). I told him, ‘Viru, public ko lagega ki hum ne galat decision diya aur pitwowge’ (Viru, the crowd will think that I’ve given a wrong decision and you will hammer me). Immediately he embraced me to indicate that nothing was wrong, all this on the field of play,” Marcus’ tone dipped while finishing his tale by the affection shown towards him.
While Marcus shared a healthy equation with players, the brothers endorsed the idea of veteran cricketers venturing into umpiring, which has now turned into quite a lucrative profession.
“It’s good because they have that experience of knowing what is going on in the mind of the players. And because of players coming into umpiring, the honorarium has been increased,” revealed Marcus, whose daughter Joylin, currently in third year of college, is all set to don the umpire’s hat next year.
This profession however, is no trivial pastime for the brothers nor a seasonal fad that will just fade away. But the exciting bucks are left for the taking.
“Standing in the sun for six to eight hours is not a joke, but today at the local level, the amount is good. Two years back we were paid Rs 500 a day, now it is Rs 1200 a day,” Ricky added.
“At the BCCI level also it is very good. The recent lot of umpires include civil engineers, chartered accountants and software engineers. BCCI umpires are paid Rs 15,000 a day be it a women’s or men’s match. Selected few are paid Rs 20,000 a day,” added Marcus, would like to see Rahul Dravid as an umpire one day. As for Ricky, VVS Laxman with a white shirt and black trousers would be a treat to watch.
The talk now drifted towards a young impish Sachin and it was Ricky, who hogged most of the limelight during the rendezvous.
His memories with Sachin and the long walk after school are vivid.
During those days Ricky and Marcus were residents of Wadala village.
Collage of Sachin, Kambli, Ricky and Marcus' pictures at their Wadala home. (Photo: Ricky Couto)
“After school, Sachin and I used to walk to Marine sports book stall, see the cricket books and then go to Shivaji Park. There was a bhelwala there. We used to buy four bhels, one Sachin ate, one he gave me and two he used to take home. That was his ritual every day,” Ricky recalled.
While in school, Ricky and Sachin were the bad boys and part of a ‘deadly gang’.
“We were backbenchers in class. Sachin was very mischievous and academically was like an average student, not too brilliant. We used to always get punished by teachers. They used to make us stand on the bench, sometimes outside the class and sometimes near the blackboard also,” he said.
If not in class, during recess the boys would be even naughtier.
“During recess we used to all be together, we used to play mischief with everybody and people used to get frightened of us. Sachin loved his vada pav.”
Sachin Tendulkar along with wife Anjali raises a toast at Ricky's wedding. (Photo: Ricky Couto)
In class, the competition got tougher. Call it fate but Sachin was a champ during his younger days too.
“Sachin used to play panja (arm wrestling) game. Till today nobody has been able to beat him from our group. Kambli also stood no chance. Sachin used to play with me opingo-betingo (a fistful children’s game). I might have had fights with Sachin more than the runs he has scored while playing opingo-betingo. He used to really give a hard punch,” he added.
The game has still not stopped between Ricky and Sachin.
Ricky Couto along with Sachin Tendulkar. (Photo: Facebook)
“Few years ago, I had been to Wankhede for a Ranji trophy game and I went to meet him. He started hitting me and the whole team was stunned, ‘Ye kya ho raha hai,’ (what’s going on?) there were saying. And I told them, ‘Hi aamcha game hai opingo-betingo’ (this is our game).”
Sachin along with wife Anjali at Ricky's wedding. (Photo: Ricky Couto)
Greatness beckoned Tendulkar at a young age when he went to England with Star Cricket Club under Kailash Gattani in 1988.
“He had just come back from that tour with a big kit bag. It was something new for me to see such a big kit bag. One of our friends told Sachin that the kit bag is so big that you can easily fit Ricky in the bag. Like always he was ready for the challenge. After a period was over, he emptied the bag, he put me in and zipped it and showed that I’ve won this also,” Ricky said.
Ricky and Sachin used to visit each other’s homes and continue from they left off in class.
“Sometimes I used to go to his place and we used to play with a soft ball. He also used to come to my mine and eat his favourite dish, Mutton Vindaloo while Kambli’s was pork sorpotel.”
Ricky says the legend in the making had a habit of signing on paper.
“Sachin had a peculiar habit of signing on any piece of paper in school. Any piece of paper he would get, he would sign on it, I don’t know why, whether he was practicing for the future,” Ricky guffawed.
The friendship reached its pinnacle when the Master Blaster raised a toast at Ricky’s wedding in 2005.
“When my date was fixed, Marcus told him the date and he was ready to come for the nuptials also at Gorai. We told him to come for the reception and he said that he will raise the toast for me. He was there before time,” he added.
And does he still keep in touch with him?
“We are in touch with him. He has not changed at all. He is the same like what he was in school. I met him at Bandra-Kurla Complex last before he went for Cricket All Stars. We meet him on and off,” Ricky explained.
Ricky and Marcus Couto. (Photo: DC/Debasish Dey)
The tale of the Couto brothers is nothing short of greatness, the cherry on the top being the Little Master.
