How umpire Anil Chaudhary is shaping next generation of UP’s technical officials

Now retired with an experience of more than 100 international matches, Chaudhary’s presence in UPT20 league gives a major fillip to the officials and umpires

Lucknow: Anil Chaudhary’s presence at the UPT20 League 2026 has become more than symbolic as it’s a deliberate, hands-on effort to rebuild a local culture of match officiating in Uttar Pradesh. For the nine technical experts on the BCCI panel, including three match referees who joined the league’s officiating panel, his mentorship is reshaping both technique and temperament.

Tanmay Srivastava (left) and Anil Chaudhary ahead of a UPT20 league match. (Sourced)

The technical experts here in the UPT20L include Rohit Prakash, Parvinder Singh, Shvakant Shukla (match referees), Tanmay Srivastava, Ashwani Mandhani, Anurag, Tahir Abbas, Rohit and Ankit Tewari. They are joined by a few seniors from outside UP, including Akshay Totre.

Now retired with an experience of more than 200 matches, including over 100 international matches in his career, Chaudhary approaches mentoring as a layered process that balances rules mastery with situational judgement. On the fundamentals, he runs focussed sessions that revisit the laws of cricket and the playing conditions specific to franchise T20s.

These classroom-style briefings are practical as he breaks down scenarios from recent domestic and international matches, asking the young umpires and referees to identify key facts, apply the law, and explain the reasoning behind a call. This method drills clear, repeatable decision-making habits so that in the heat of a T20 game—between loud crowds and split-second events—officials respond with confidence rather than hesitation.

Chaudhary also emphasises role-play exercises, including mock DRS referrals, managing heated exchanges, and briefing captains at toss and it helps the trainees practice tone and timing. For match referees, he models how to write concise match reports, manage disciplinary hearings, and balance impartiality with empathy. The goal is to craft officials who officiate the game with authority but also maintain the respect of players and coaches.

He shares techniques for staying calm under pressure—breathing exercises, pre-match routines, and a mental checklist to center attention on controllable elements. He recounts personal anecdotes from international tours to illustrate how a composed presence often de-escalates on-field tensions and improves decision accuracy. This emphasis on temperament is especially critical in T20 cricket, where emotions peak and controversies can flare rapidly.

“Now umpiring is about implementing things now and handling the pressure situations with calmness is the biggest success mantra of this trade. I always say that the most important stakeholders of the game are the players and as technical officials on or off the field, you should know how to handle them properly,” said Chaudhary on Thursday.

“We are bound to make mistakes because we are humans. And unless you accept, you will not move forward. The biggest thing about these kids is that as soon as I say something, they believe it and then correct it,” he said about local officials in the UPT20 League. “If I say something, they are ready to accept. I tell them straight away, the concept of umpiring is that, if you make a mistake, accept it.”

The knowledge of Chaudhary is a great help to technical officials from Uttar Pradesh and they find it a different experience altogether. “It’s altogether a different experience for me in the UPT20 League under Anil Sir’s guidance. I have already done on-field umpiring in this year’s IPL, but here I am learning so many new things and that too before my own people,” local boy and ex-india U19 World Cupper Tanmay Srivastava said.

“Even at the breakfast and dinner tables, we keep on discussing about the proper implementation of both on and off the field umpiring after the match everyday,” he said, adding, “He (Anil) as a mentor to all of us, keeps telling us what to do more and how to correct ourselves.”

“He encourages use of digital note-taking for observations and building a personal repository of tricky scenarios. For match referees, he demonstrates how data—such as over rates, player conduct trends, and injury patterns—can inform proactive match management,” said Srivastava.

Another former UP’s batting mainstay, Shivakant Shukla, is excited to work as match referee in the league. “I did over a dozen board trophy matches last season in my first year as match referee, but here I am having live match experience where pressure remains quite high as your one mistake is visible to the world,” he said.

“But the best part is that we have Anil bhai by our side, who mentos and encourages us to keep doing well,” added Shukla, who hails from Prayagraj. “Beyond the laws, Anil Bhai heavily emphasizes communication. He trains us to deliver succinct, firm on-field explanations to players and captains, and to collaborate smoothly with third umpires and scorers,” said Shukla.