It’s wild how different sports careers can turn out. Virat Kohli, who won the 2008 ICC U19 World Cup, became a legend, one of the best hitters ever. But many of his teammates from that squad didn’t have the same luck. As Virat starts a fresh season in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), his old U19 teammate, Tanmay Srivastava, is going to be an umpire in the same league.
Tanmay, at 35, got an umpiring gig in the IPL, according to the Times of India. Fun fact: he was India’s top scorer in the 2008 ICC U19 World Cup final. But his career didn’t pan out like Kohli’s.
After showing promise in the 2008 U19 World Cup, Tanmay got a contract with Punjab Kings, but things didn’t go so well after that.
I knew I’d reached my peak as a player, Srivastava told TOI. I wasn’t close to playing in the IPL. I had to choose between dragging out my playing career or starting a successful second act.
Tanmay quit playing at 30, while still captain of the Uttarakhand team, after playing for Uttar Pradesh. He wanted to stay in cricket, but not as a player. It was a tough call, of course. Tanmay isn’t umpiring on the field in the IPL yet, but he’s hopeful.
He is still in touch with Virat, and might see him at the IPL.
I still talk to Virat, but I needed to be practical and make my own decisions, he said.
I told Rajiv Shukla I wanted to do something different in cricket. He was surprised because I was only 30. We talked about my options. I did my Level 2 coaching at the NCA, but I figured the best I could do was be a fielding coach. So, I chose to focus on umpiring, Srivastava explained.
He started studying to be an umpire, taking exams while also working as a talent scout for RCB and coaching at the National Cricket Academy.
Studying for umpiring is hard. I used to stay up all night. There’s a lot to learn to understand the rules, he said.
The board gives players some leeway, no matter what level they played at. They’re encouraging young players to become umpires instead of relying on older people with just book smarts, he said.