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

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.

Discover more

WTC final | Brett Lee sees 'amazing' talent in India, but picks New Zealand as favourites

Former Australian speedster Brett Lee has put the onus on the Indian and New Zealand bowlers to have a strong say in the ICC World Test Championship, which he said will tell the world about which side is ‘the best team around the world.’ “This is an opportunity now to find out which is going to be the best team currently around the world. It is a neutral venue with no home advantage. So when you think about who has got a chance of winning, you have got to say, it comes down to bowlers,” Lee said in an interview. Lee echoed the sentiments of former New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum and compared the captaincy styles of both Kane Williamson and Virat Kohli. He pointed out the aggressive captaincy style of Virat Kohli and the ‘conservative’ style of Kane Williamson but said that both skippers would be eager to win the first edition of the WTC. "Both captains would want to raise a trophy at the end. In terms of the Indian skipper, Kohli, he is such a dynamic player, such a great influencer for the team, a world-class batter. We know that Kohli steps up on the big occasions. He wants to see his side be the first winners of the ICC World Test Championships,” Lee added. “They (Kohli and Willaimson) are different. Kane is a lot more conservative without being boring. He has got a great cricket brain. He attacks when he needs to. At the other side of the ledger, you look at Kohli, he is more of an aggressive captain. There is no right or wrong answer to any of these, but this is going to be a great opportunity to see which one comes out on top because they are different.” Although Lee commended the richness of talents in the Indian team, he picked New Zealand as favourites due to familiarity with the conditions in England as they are similar to what they play in back home. “The Indian Test line-up that will be on show, they have got some amazing talent, as do the Kiwis. It is pretty evenly matched there, though with the experience of New Zealand because they have bowled in conditions that are similar back home, the Kiwis might have an advantage purely from that fact. Whichever team bowls the best will win the Test,” Lee reckoned. He suggested the Blackcaps to believe in their own gameplan and take the confidence in playing in not so alien conditions with themselves into the WTC final against India. “For someone like New Zealand and Kane Williamson, they have just got to believe in themselves. And believe in their defence in terms of their batters, their top five, and believe that they can win it. You have got a great side, and they are playing in conditions that might suit them. But there is a lot on the line,” Lee asserted. The WTC final will be played with the Dukes ball like all the Test matches that are played in England and the ball has attracted a lot of headlines for the extra bit of help it provides to the bowlers. However, Lee has a word of caution for the bowlers not to get carried away with the amount of swing as their inaccuracies will open massive scoring opportunities for the batsmen. “What we know about the Dukes ball is that it talks. We know that when you go to England when you bowl with the Dukes ball, it does swing around. If you play in England, and you do not quite get the right areas, you can go for runs, a lot of runs,” Lee cautioned. The World Test Championship final will be played in Southampton from June 18 and the world will be eager to watch who among Virat Kohli or Kane Williamson and their side will lift the trophy.

PSL partners Facebook for Live broadcast through Facebook Paid Online Events

The Pakistan Super League has partnered with Facebook to show all the remaining 20 games of the sixth edition, live on the social media platform through their Facebook Paid Online Events feature. The matches would be reached in non-broadcast regions of the world where sports fans can watch the game at a nominal fee, generating more fans as well as more sources of revenue for both the PSL and the Pakistan Cricket Board. Facebook Paid Online Events will help the Board monetize the matches by requiring fans to pay a nominal one-time sign-up fee to access the live broadcast. The broadcast can then be watched anytime. Policy Lead Pakistan for Facebook, Sehar Tariq, while speaking on the partnership said, “We are excited to partner for HBL PSL this year. The league has gained popularity around the world.” “With support from PCB, we have been able to connect HBL PSL's global fan base to view their matches around the world while also supporting PCB to build a new revenue stream and support their business,” she added. Originally slated to begin from June 1, the postponed season which has now been shifted from Karachi, Pakistan to Abu Dhabi, UAE will begin on June 9 with Islamabad United taking on Lahore Qalandars at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium. “We hope that Paid Online Events will enhance the experience of the HBL PSL for all cricket lovers across the world,” Triaq said while hoping for a smooth journey on Facebook for cricket fans, especially those of the PSL and Pakistan team and its players.

Adil Rashid expects The Hundred to bring diversity, new generation of cricketers into game

England leg spinner Adil Rashid has high hopes from ECB’s flagship tournament —The Hundred and said that it will help in bringing more diversity into the game as well as providing opportunities for the emergence of players of the current generation. "The aim of The Hundred is to get the new generation of cricketers coming in. There will obviously be some of the same crowd as well, but to get different age groups, ethnicities, backgrounds, gender, religion, male, female - it's basically for all,” Rashid said at the Dynamos Cricket event, which provides young children aged eight to 11 with an opportunity to play with professional cricketers. The Hundred was supposed to take off last year but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The tournament will now begin on July 21 with the women's edition followed by the men’s tournament a day later.

Seeing me they started supporting Australian team: How Usman Khawaja changed subcontinent mentality

Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja has claimed that his representation in the Australian national team had a big role in the first and second generation sub-continent people supporting the Australian cricket team. “When I started being more involved in cricket, people with subcontinent heritage in Australia came up to me and said, ‘We’re so happy to see you at the top. Seeing someone like you, we feel we’ve got a part in the Australian team, and we support the Australian team. We didn’t do it before, and we do it now,” Khawaja said in an interview from UAE to Espncricinfo The 34-year-old who is in Abu Dhabi to play the UAE leg of the postponed Pakistan Super League, also detailed, how he was always made to feel that he cannot play for Australia. “When I was younger in Australia, the amount of time I got told I was never going to play for Australia, I’m not the right skin colour was immense. I’d get told I don’t fit the team, and they wouldn’t pick me. That was the mentality, but now it’s starting to shift,” said Khawaja ho has so far represented Australia in 44 Tests, 40 ODIs and 9 T20Is. Khawaja was the first person of Islamic religion to play for an Australian cricket team. He even considered once for the captaincy post and does captain his First-Class side Queensland. In 159 First Class Games, the Islamabad born, who would also be representing the team from this city, Islamabad united in the PSL, has scored more than 10,000 runs with 30 centuries to his name.