Anil Chaudhary did the umpire’s duty during the past 17 editions of the IPL but he has now slipped into the role of a commentator this season after turning 60 last week.
It effectively signalled his retirement from officiating the game. Chaudhary’s farewell game happened to be the Ranji Trophy final between Kerala and Vidarbha last month at Nagpur and his last international appearance came in September 2023.
Overall, he officiated in 12 Tests, 49 ODIs and 64 T20s.
With retirement on the horizon, Chaudhary started planning for the future and got into regional commentary which has grown exponentially in the last two years.
He will be part of the Haryanvi feed in the IPL beginning March 22 with occasional stints in Hindi commentary.
“I have been commentating for the past three-four months. So, I was already in the transition phase. I have also been teaching umpiring and commentary via an online platform,” he told PTI.
“As an umpire, I did around 15 games in a season, here I would be doing more than 50 (matches). On air, former cricketers look at the game in their own way and being an umpire I have a different perspective on the game. It is fun,” said the Delhi-based umpire who had been officiating in the IPL since its inception in 2008.
Chaudhary leaves the umpiring profession a satisfied man though he could never make the ICC elite panel. The elite panel only has one Indian umpire since 2020 — Nitin Menon.
“I was an international umpire for more than 12 years. Have been doing IPL since 2008 and have done more than 200 games. Kuch na kuch toh reh hee jata hain life mein,” said Chaudhary, who feels proud about officiating in five Ranji finals and the Asia Cup final in 2022.