Mumbai’s Vrinda Rathi to Become India’s First Ever Woman Umpire

‘Times they are a changing’..and how!

Indian cricket will soon welcome its first ever female umpire.

Vrinda Rathi from Navi Mumbai has cleared BCCI’s Level 2 exams, along with Chennai’s N Janani, making them eligible to officiate national level matches.

Speaking candidly to a leading daily, Rathi pointed out how she is often addressed as ‘Sir’ on field, quite out of habit, as there is a significant dearth of female umpires in the country even at local match levels.

While scoring at the Women’s World Cup in 2013, Rathi was floored by New Zealand’s woman Umpire Kathy Cross and since then has been sacrificing her wekends under the scorching sun to bad as many games as possible.

While she is looking forward to the pay raise that comes with her new role, she is well aware of the responsibilities that will tack on. Especially since there are apprehensions surrounding a woman umpire’s skills.

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 center of the field, your gender does not matter.

Vrinda Rathi to Times of India

Vrinda has been officiating Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) matches since 2013 and her latest stint has now allowed her to umpire in women’s cricket matches and junior boys’ matches as well.

Kudos to you, Vrinda for inspiring us to keep pushing the glass ceiling.