Eighty-year-old former international umpire Narendra Menon continues to guide young cricketers in Indore

At eighty years of age, former international umpire Narendra Menon continues to officiate junior cricket matches on the Central Gymkhana ground in Indore.

Ground Action and Coaching

Menon supervises matches for boys between twelve and fifteen years of age and explains the basic laws of the sport while games are underway. He joined the Maharaja Yashwant Rao Cricket Club in the nineteen-sixties and returned to active coaching four years ago when his grandson Hrishabh began playing. The youngsters play fifty-over matches that feature twenty-five overs per side and run from late afternoon until late evening. Thirty players from his club have advanced to represent the Indore division, while five or six have reached the state team level. Two other clubs also use the ground: the Cricket Club of Indore managed by former selection panel member Sanjay Jagdale, and the Indore Divisional Cricket Association.

Career Background

Menon concluded his own international umpiring career in nineteen ninety-eight. In nineteen ninety, his group became the initial batch of ten former first-class players to enter professional umpiring after passing the board exams, alongside S Venkatraghavan and AV Jayaprakash. He later served as an umpire coach for nearly ten years starting in two thousand and seven. His son Nitin Menon now works as an international umpire, adopting his father's core guidance to focus purely on the area below the waist involving the bat, ball, and stumps. Menon regards modern umpiring as more difficult due to the presence of over twenty to a quarter-hundred cameras compared to the five or six used during his own playing days. Among his fondest memories are officiating two Ranji Trophy finals in Mumbai during two thousand and two thousand and three, including a close run-out decision involving VVS Laxman that drew praise from former India captain Tiger Pataudi.

Context

Grassroots coaching plays a vital role in Indian cricket by building technical discipline among young players long before they reach competitive leagues. Senior figures who transition from top-tier officiating to local coaching help pass down traditional standards of play to new generations. Local club grounds across cities like Indore serve as the primary breeding ground for regional and national talent.