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Right place at the right time: How Karnataka engineer became Netherlands umpire

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It was just a matter of being at the ‘right place at the right time’ says Nitin Bathi who officiated an ICC CWC Super League game as a local umpire for the Netherlands in their first of three matches against Ireland in Utrecht. The Bengaluru born Indian citizen started his journey of international umpiring through the recently concluded two-match series that the Netherlands played against Scotland. 

Talking about his journey, the 34-year-old Devangree born, Nitin said, “I cleared the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) state panel test in 20016 and BCCI Level-1 panel test in 2009.” A spiring cricketer himself, Nitin took to umpiring on the advice of his coach at the United Cricketers, his club in Karnataka. The IT graduate was trained by the likes of S Murlidhar, Nandan and Shavir Tarapore, some of the finest names in the Indian cricket umpiring scene.

“I never thought I would have time for cricket when I moved to Europe. I came to the Netherlands on one year contract and soon I got a long term visa thanks to my job at Intel,” Nitin, who didn’t have any of his decisions reviewed in his only game with DRS technology, continued. “I approached Royal Dutch Cricket Association (KNCB) for an opportunity to officiate in matches. They not only took me in but also encouraged me,” he added. 

The journey which began with Topklasse, the premier division cricket league in the Netherlands moved on and reached as much as officiating not just one but three international games so far. Nitin, whose parents still live in India is worried that he might not have many international matches to officiate as being an Associate nation, the Netherlands get very few international games.

However his complaint might need some tweaking as three big nations in Pakistan, England and West Indies have already announced their tours to the Dutch nation and with CWC Super League in running, the orange brigade and Nitin might see more international games falling in their kitty.

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