Former Hyderabad opener S. Daniel Manohar will be the only match referee from Telangana for the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League starting March 26.
He has the distinction of scoring a century on debut in Ranji Trophy (against Karnataka) and in the Wills Trophy one-day tournament (against Bangladesh) in 1997, but officiating as a referee will be a different challenge for the 48-year-old.
“I am confident that my 11 years of experience featuring 88 first-class games including juniors, Ranji Trophy and India-A as BCCI match referee will help me a lot. And, honestly, I am all excited to officiate my first match in the IPL when Gujarat Lions take on Lucknow Super Giants on March 28,” said Manohar in a chat with Sportstar .
The Deputy Manager in the State Bank of India will be officiating in his first-ever IPL.
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“After retirement, I always wanted to stay connected with the game as a coach or as a selector and when I saw an opportunity in 2014, I requested HCA to nominate me for the Match Referee’s post (those days each Association could nominate two based on their first class career),” he said.
“But, after 2014 there was an exam and from then on a proper panel of match referees have been in place to ensure continuity,” Manohar said.
“The primary objective will be to conduct the matches smoothly even while being ready for any unexpected developments. In any T20 game, over-rate is a big issue and with such high profile players in the IPL, it will be even more testing for the officials,” he said.
“I was a match referee for Ranji games featuring the likes of Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Shardul Thakur, Shreyas Iyer in a quarterfinal between Delhi and Mumbai in Odisha once. Had a tough time ensuring proper security at a new venue where barricading the crowds was a major issue. Luckily, I managed it without any problem,” he recalled.
“The other major incident was when Andy Flower, coach of England Lions A in a three-day match against India-A in Wayanad four years ago was not pleased with an umpiring decision on the third day. He was not happy but I was successful in convincing the umpire was right given the tough circumstances he did his job. He went on pestering me with one query or the other for the rest of the match but at the end of it walked across to shake hands with him to say - great working with you, well done. That meant a lot to me,” Manohar explained.
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