Tag Archives: Saba Karim-Indian Cricketer

Umpiring standards have to improve: Saba Karim

Patna, BIHAR / Mumbai, MAHARASHTRA :

Saba Karim. | Photo Credit: Vivek Bendre
Saba Karim. | Photo Credit: Vivek Bendre

Says the BCCI’s aim is to have more umpires in the ICC Elite panel

It’s been almost three months since Saba Karim, the former India wicket-keeper-batsman, took over as the BCCI’s general manager – cricket operations.

One of the biggest challenges he has is to ensure umpiring standards, especially in domestic cricket, improve. At a time when the BCCI is being forced to re-conduct umpiring examinations due to goof-ups of the operations department last year, Karim opens up in a chat with The Hindu.

Excerpts:

Despite the umpires academy in place for over a decade now, the quality of Indian umpires continues to be questionable. Is it time to have a re-look?

We are doing that. We do have our regular training workshops. In the end, we need hard-working professionals to come into this field. We are trying to put in some stringent and transparent measures so that the best candidates come out of it. That is why we may redesign our Level 1 and Level 2 examinations so that we get the possible candidates. That’s in the pipeline. Very soon you will hear from us.

Starting with the just-concluded season, 23 of the 40 domestic umpires are supposed to retire in three seasons. How do you plan to maintain — if not raise — the standards in domestic cricket?

It’s not about maintaining. It’s about evolving. We have to raise our standards. That is one point that we will discuss with our umpires during the workshop. Umpiring standards have to go up.

That is how we can have more footprints at the international level. The BCCI’s aim is to have more umpires in the ICC Elite panel. Right now we have five (four international, one Elite) and we do have some very good young umpires coming through.

The reports from the exchange programmes with ECB and CSA have been wonderful. Last year, some of our umpires did fairly well in IPL. Going forward, that is what we want to do, to have more and more umpires at the international level.

We need to have a solid education pathway for them, need to update them all the time, there has to be upgradation and faculty development all the time and then the exams that we conduct have to be transparent.

Will involving more former players as umpires help?

We are open to that, but they have to go through the entire process. It is quite similar to coaching. Just because you have played the game does not mean you will be a good coach. Same stands for umpiring. We are extremely open to First-Class or international cricketers getting into this role. It is tough work, so they’ll have to consider it.

Are former cricketers not attracted towards umpiring because it is not as lucrative as it should be, especially at the domestic level?

We will try and make it lucrative for them. Try and make it possible for First-Class cricketers to get into this profession. It is a highly demanding and a respectable profession, but you are right. We’ll have to work something out.

Cricketers’ match-fees have been revised but that for the other staff — umpires, scorers and video analysts — is still pending.

It is a decision that is taken by the top management. They are aware of the fact that something should be done about it and I am sure they will look into it.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sport> Cricket / by Amol Karhadkar / Mumbai – March 21st, 2018

A Single Swallow : Of Karim, grit and toil

BIHAR / WEST BENGAL / Noida, UTTAR PRADESH  :

Saba Karim
Saba Karim

Saba Karim was one of the unsung heroes of Indian cricket team. A freak eye injury meant his first Test was also his last.

His first-class debut came at 15, against Assam. His farewell game happened against the same opponent 18 seasons later. He went on his first tour with India in 1989 to the West Indies but waited eight more years before playing his first ODI. And then three more years to earn a Test cap. Within months of playing a Test, at 33, Saba Karim bowed out of the game, an injury to his right eye cutting short his career.

The eye injury was a freak incident at Dhaka during the Asia Cup in 2000. It was India’s first match of the tournament and Karim was keeping to Anil Kumble, an exercise he was not familiar with. Kumble was giving a tough time to the batsmen, bowling quicker, and this particular delivery kissed the flap of the batsman’s pad and Karim had no time to avoid the path of the ball. “It slammed into the socket of my right eye,” recalled Karim.

His world seemed to have crashed in that heart-breaking moment “My vision was blurred and I thought I had lost my vision. It was indeed a hard time,” said Karim. He received treatment at the Sankara Nethralaya in Chennai and recovered to get back to the Indian team for the one-off Test against Bangladesh. The team captain, Sourav Ganguly, was willing to back him. So were the National selectors.

Karim prepared for the Test by playing some club matches in Mumbai. “My vision had improved and I thought I was ready,” he remembered. But obviously he was not. “When the game started I realised I couldn’t cope with the speed of the delivery. And then I was having problems with the sweat coming into my eyes.” He played the Test but not in ideal conditions even though India beat Bangladesh in the latter’s debut as a Test nation.

He developed a love for cricket when studying at St. Xavier’s and later at St. Michael’s in Patna. The facilities were hardly encouraging but Karim made steady progress, taking to wicket-keeping on the advice of Sudhir Das, a former state and zone medium-pacer. He went on his first international tour as part of the Indian Schools squad to the West Indies in 1982. The same year he was included in the East Zone team for the Deodhar Trophy before making it to the Bihar squad for the Ranji Trophy.

Within a season of making his mark at the first-class level, Karim shot into national reckoning as a wicketkeeper-batsman of quality. He was still playing school cricket when the zonal selectors picked him for the tour match against Clive Lloyd’s West Indians at Cuttack in 1983. Two catches and a stumping in the only innings that West Indies batted was a “huge inspiration” for Karim, who now nurtured dreams of making it big.

The tour to the West Indies in 1989 paved the way for Karim to showcase his talent but the opportunities were sparse. “The tour was an eye-opener. I knew little about international cricket and I tried to absorb as much as possible. It was a huge experience,” Karim noted. All he played were three side games. On return, he did not get a look in. “The selectors had forgotten me,” he smiled. And then churning started and in his words his career stood “rejuvenated.”

Help for Karim came from seniors like Hari Gidwani and Arun Lal. “I gained in values and improved my temperament.” Seven years of toil helped Karim stage a comeback when he was picked to go to South Africa in 1996-97. He had shifted to Bengal from Bihar in 1994-95. “I made the move at the right stage. I was not getting opportunities beyond my zone. When Tata Steel transferred me to Calcutta I made my shift too. It is true that your performances don’t get to be noticed when you play for emerging teams.”

In Bengal, Karim made rapid progress. “The facilities were amazing. Lots of clubs matches and the league for well organised too. The practice facilities for the Ranji team were excellent. Most important was that I was never made to feel like an outsider.”

Karim was making waves. He figured in two tour matches against visiting Australian and South African teams in 1996-97. Interestingly, his debut came at Bloemfontein in early 1997. “Nayan (Mongia) injured his finger and indicated to me. (Coach) Madan Lal told me I was in the playing XI and that was one of my most unforgettable days.” Karim played six ODIs in that tri-series and figured in 19 more ODIs before the year ended. Only one ODI each in 1998 and 1999 and another seven in 2000 was all that Karim could add to his career.

Among his memorable moments on the cricket field was pulling off a sensational victory against Pakistan at Karachi in 1997. He contributed a priceless 26 before Rajesh Chauhan sealed it with a six off Saqlain Mushtaq. “I can never forget the stone pelting from the crowd,’ he recalled. A commerce graduate from Hindu College, Karim, like Sunil Gavaskar, is a voracious reader with “Love In The Times Of Cholera” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez his favourite book. The 47-year-old Karim, who played two first-class matches following his Test debut before calling it a day, is currently a National selector and lives in Noida with (wife) Rashmi and (son) Fidel, an avid footballer.

(Saba Karim played 1 Test (15 runs); 34 ODIs (362 runs, 1 fifty, 27 catches, 3 stumpings); 120 first Class Matches (7310 runs, 22 centuries, 33 fifties); Career span: 1982-83 to 2000-01.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Metroplus / by Vijay Lokapally / April 19th, 2015