5 greatest Indian umpires of all-time

#4 V.K. Ramaswamy

Ramaswamy has been hailed as a “top-class” umpire by Wisden

Born in Madras in 1949, Ramaswamy started umpiring from the early 70s, having umpired numerous matches in the Indian domestic circuit. His first international match as an umpire was an ODI between India and West Indies at Vadodara in 1983. He went on to umpire a total of 43 ODIs until 2002 including nine World Cup matches in 1987 and 1996.

He officiated the famous West Indies-Kenya match in Kandy at the 1996 World Cup where Kenya surprisingly beat the eventual semi-finalists by 73 runs. His final ODI was between India and England at Cuttack in 2002.

He first umpired a Test match in 1985 between India and England at Chennai. One of Ramaswamy’s biggest Test decisions is perhaps the dismissal of Sunil Gavaskar for 96 in his final Test match against Pakistan which helped Pakistan win the match by 16 runs. His 26th and final Test came in 1999 between India and New Zealand at Ahmedabad. He has been hailed by Wisden as a “top-class umpire”.