IT TAKES two to tango and two Tumbdes to officiate a cricket match! There are many instances of father and son playing together on a cricket field but it seldom happens that the pair is officiating in same game of cricket. In a first for the Orange City, father Pradeepkumar Tumbde and son Shantanu have joined forces and have officiated in two cricket matches in Nagpur. While Pradeepkumar is a renowned name in cricket fraternity as he is among elite scorers who officiate in international games. Pradeepkumar almost simultaneously started as scorer and umpire way back in 1986. But soon, his love for book-keeping took over and since then he has been recording minute details of players on the scoresheets that is read by all cricket aficionados the next day. Senior Tumbde was lucky enough to get Ranji Trophy games as his debut scoring matches. “In 1986 November, I was assigned a couple of Ranji Trophy matches and that too for the mediapersons. Frankly speaking, I was not very good in the beginning but thanks to non-stop queries by senior journalists present in the press box, I learned faster. As luck would have it, in the very next month I was assigned the India-Sri Lanka Test match. There has been no stopping since then,” 56-year-old Pradeep recalled the start to his scoring career. For his expertise, Pradeepkumar has been a regular at the AIR commentary box assisting the commentators as a statistician.

 

He is one of the masters of calculating the Duckworth and Lewis scores required in case of truncated games in white ball formats in the region. Shantanu, an engineering graduate presently working with the prestigious firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), used to accompany his father whenever he got time, to watch matches. “I got interested in cricket after seeing my dad work in that field. Though I loved the sport, I was not very good playing it. But my father advised me to be the ruler on the ground, if not by playing they by showcasing different skill-set on the ground. ‘There are many ways to be associated with a sport you love’, my dad used to say. “I thought it was the umpire who dictated terms on the field and decided to take it seriously. I appeared for VCA’s (Vidarbha Cricket Association) State Panel Examination. It is a tough exam and after theory and practical there was viva too. With my fundamentals clear, I passed the exam in first attempt,” said the 24-year-old Shantanu.

 

VCA’s umpires and scorer’s committee allots matches to registered umpires and scorers. “After officiating in few games a time came when we both were assigned the same match. It was Mumbai Indians Junior match and for the first time we did the match together. I donned the umps’ hat while dad opened his box of a multi-coloured pen. As per my knowledge, we are the first father-son duo, at least from the region, to officiate in the same match. Some days later, we were again assigned a common match. This time, it was VCA’s Inter-Academy Under-19 match,” said Shantanu on forming of the unique association. Pradeepkumar wanted this opportunity to thank past and present VCA office-bearers, Sadhguru, family members and friends for their support, blessings and encouragement. Pradeepkumar has taken voluntary retirement from Nagpur Municipal Corporation and now divides his time between his two loves — cricket and spiritualism. Inspired by father in taking to umpiring, Shantanu has taken a leaf out of his other passion also and performs kirtans too. Like father, like son!