The twinkle in Dharmasena's eye

It's been fun watching Kumar Dharmasena umpire in the IPL. The former Sri Lanka offspinner always has a twinkle in his eye when he has a chat with the bowler over a negated appeal. Yesterday he turned down an appeal by Lasith Malinga against Adam Gilchrist, and at the end of the over was engaged in explaining to the bowler in his inimitable half-winking, laughing style. It's how he comes across off the field as well. There is a certain naughtiness that he has never lost, despite the years.

Remember how he used to hurry batsmen? He would not give them time to settle into their stance. Sachin Tendulkar would pat his bat behind the back foot, look up and there would be Dharmasena, already about to release the ball. Tendulkar pulled away plenty of times, but many other inexperienced batsmen continued to bat, not having the courage to turn away, and if not lost their wicket, at least made a faulty stroke. The other day when I bumped into Dharmasena in the hotel foyer in Durban, I asked him about it. Did he deliberately hurry batsmen? Those naughty eyes twinkled as he laughed. "Oh, it was very calculated. But you can't do it to everybody, you know."

Really? We always had the impression it was your calling card. "Well, yes, but what I am saying is, you have to pick your men as well. Sachin, you don't give him time. Ooh, he would murder you if you gave him much time." A laughing Dharmasena does an imitation of Tendulkar's signature crotch-yank and says, "He does that, gets into stance, he looks up and you've got be ready with the ball."

So which batsman did he not use the hurrying trick on then? "Brian Lara. I saw that whenever I was bowling quickly to him, he was ready, and, oh ho, he will hit you. So I tried slowing it up, taking time before the delivery, and I saw that irritated him!"

Asked if he would be sympathetic as an umpire if a bowler did the "hurrying act" now, Dharmasena winks and says, "No, no way! You have to be selfish, you see. As a bowler, try to do it, but as an umpire, don't allow the bowler to upset the batsman! You have to give the batsman enough time. So I would put my hand up to stop him, as several umpires have done to me." Oh well…

I didn't get time to ask him about his first decision as an umpire. It was a game in the recently concluded India-Sri Lanka series, and he gave Tendulkar out lbw, but the ball had pitched outside leg stump. A couple of days after that game, I met Arjuna Ranatunga, and somehow the talk veered to Dharmasena. After praising him for being such a "character", Ranatunga went on: "Did you see that dismissal? I called him up later and asked him why he gave it out. Especially when he took so much time to think. Dharmasena told me that he felt it pitched on the leg stump. I told him, 'When you take so long to make a decision, remember, if you have doubt, don't give it.' And also told him, 'People have come to see Tendulkar bat, not you umpire!' And we both laughed."

But if Dharmasena, who has been pretty good after that solitary iffy moment, continues to umpire well, the world will have another interesting character in whites. It's not often a player turns into a good umpire in the subcontinent. Bishan Singh Bedi didn't pass the umpiring exam. Maninder Singh did but couldn't fight the system. Sadanand Viswanath has been toiling on India's domestic circuit for 14 years as an umpire, but he hasn't got that break. Let's hope Dharmasena makes a good fist of his opportunity. And watch out for those twinkling eyes.