Umpiring No More A ‘Man’s Job’ As Mumbai’s Vrinda Rathi Becomes India’s First National Woman Umpire

Mumbai’s Vrinda Rathi says that she’d prefer if boys from under-16 teams call her ‘madam’.

But that doesn’t come from a place of vanity or false sense of entitlement. She knows what it means to be a woman doing a ‘man’s job’.

Umpiring has never been something we have associated with women, but Vrinda, along with Chennai’s N Janani, is set to change that, as the two have cleared the BCCI’s exam for umpiring on national level. 

Which means that the duo can now officiate women’s cricket matches and junior-level boy’s matches across the country.

29-year-old Vrinda has been a BCCI scorer since 2010.

She has also umpired many local matches, which has been an interesting experience to say the least. Talking to The Times of India about this, she said:

Initially, there were unsubstantiated apprehensions about the quality that a woman umpire may bring in. When everyone around knows that you mean business at the centre of the field, your gender does not matter.

However, she does think that inherent patience and ‘lack of rigidity’ in women helps her do the job. 

“Ego is something an umpire can not afford,” she says and we won’t differ with her opinion. 

We eagerly look forward to women like her breaking the glass ceiling, because telling a right from wrong on the pitch, should not be a privilege only one gender can afford.