LBW CALL IN 2019 IPL FINAL WAS CAREER-CHANGING: MENON

Set to officiate for the record sixth time in 2024 IPL final, the umpire will soon leave for his third T20 WC.

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NITIN Menon is the lone representative from the county in the ICC Elite Panel of Umpires. With the BCCI assigning him the responsibility to officiate in the 2024 IPL final, Menon, who hails from Indore, is on the verge of surpassing the record held by Australia's Simon Taufel. This will be his sixth consecutive IPL final, one more than Taufel.

Menon has already officiated in two T20I World Cups and one ODI World Cup and is ready to officiate in the upcoming T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies. He recently stood in his 100th IPL match between Gujarat and Bengaluru in Ahmedabad and is set to surpass S Venkataraghavan's record of 125 international matches as an on-field Indian umpire in the T20 World Cup.

In an exclusive chat with this daily, the 40-year-old opened up on his best decisions, the life of an umpire and how technology is helping them evolve.

On his switch from domestic cricketer to umpire When I was playing, till U-19 I was doing well. But when I went past that stage, the performances were not that good so I was dropped from the team. I was struggling to get a place in the Madhya Pradesh team. That time my father gave me advice that the BCCI was going to conduct examinations for umpires, so why don't you appear in it and have an alternative career. So I went ahead, took exams and cleared it. Actually, I found umpiring more challenging and more rewarding than playing cricket.

On his thought process I weighed all the pros and cons.

It was not an easy decision as I had been playing cricket for 15 years. Suddenly you have to give up that. You have worked hard for 15 years and suddenly switching to another profession was not easy. Ultimately, I took the risk at 23. I took the risk and I can say that it has paid off.