Shivakant Shukla restarts cricket journey, though in different whites

Shivakant Shukla has always been an achiever for Uttar Pradesh in domestic cricket. His first big occasion was the catch of Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar during the Ranji Trophy final at Hyderabad and there was a record of scoring an unbeaten 178 against Tamil Nadu in another Ranji Trophy semifinal at Nagpur while batting for 821 minutes.

- Sharad Deep

In the final, by the time he got out for 99, he had spent more than 20 hours on the wicket between dismissals. But Shukla had scored only two centuries in 28 previous first-class matches. That he kept getting chances to play for Uttar Pradesh was a minor miracle.

On Thursday, Prayagraj’s Shukla achieved a major milestone, first in his non-playing career, topping the match referee exam of the Board of Control for Cricket in India as the former left-hand opener finished top amongst 62 candidates with 84.5% marks, which included 42 in the written exam. Vidarbha's Soniya Rajoriya (83.5) and Nama Khobragade (81.5) finished second and third, respectively.

"I didn’t expect this to happen. I was sure of qualifying for the exam as I had done my homework well. It’s like a dream come true and feeling excited as it’s the best-ever success of my non-playing career," Shukla told HT on Thursday.