Transcripts of the chat with Venkataraghavan - Former Indian captain and currently one of the most reputed umpire in the ICC panel held on May 22nd, 2000 in Chennai, India.

Palagummi Ravi: During the Bombay test against Bill Lawry's Australians during their 1969-70 tour of India, you were given out caught behind by Taber (by Umpire Sambhu Pan I think) while in the middle of a fantastic recovery effort along with Ajit Wadekar. Your dismissal made the Australian victory possible; India had a reasonable chance of a draw otherwise

Venkat: I remember the incident provoked angry demonstrations in the Brabourne stands. There was a near riot at Brabourne. Allan Connolly was bowling; I missed the square cut by a couple of feet. I do have the photograph. Taber collected it; Ian Chappell didn't go up. The umpire gave me out! We were in a recovery act, the crowd was expecting things to happen. But when I was given out, I walked. People think I stood there. I just walked. Someone in the commentary box said there was no contact between bat and ball, the crowd got agitated. I then checked with Taber and Chappell. They said there was no contact

PokMJung: Do you consider the elevation of Bangladesh to Test status a premature development?

Venkat: It is really upto the ICC. They've had Sri Lanka develop into a good test nation. Zimbabwe is now a test nation. I think the ICC should have some sides from other countries tour Bangladesh and assess the situation there. They should assess the performance against various opponents and then come to a decision.

Gautam Dodda: When you are bowling off spin, how do you vary the amount of spin?

Venkat: You're obviously international class when you do it at will. Basically you have to grip the ball perfectly. Most offspinners have long fingers. When you want to reduce the spin you have to reduce the distance between the forefinger and the middle finger to vary it. The right width between the 2 fingers and the extent to which you use the thumb are very useful however on a real turner, the straight ball is the best!

Jaisri Chetty: Sir, What is the scope of women's cricket in the country and in the international scenario? In your opinion which segment of audience would be interested in women's cricket?

Venkat: There is a lot of scope obviously. Once girls/women in India take up cricket, there will be development. The most important thing is the organisation. For anything to survive and then thrive, you have to organise it well. Money is also necessary. I remember the recent women's tournament in Chennai, the CricInfo Rani Jhansi tournament. There have been lots of good women's cricketers. Things have to happen at school level. I've seen quite a few of them, Eduljee, Shanta Rangaswamy. I remember them playing against West Indies at Chepauk. Money and Infrastructure are very important Schools have to be interested. Many schools, which have been very good previously now, have slid down because of lack of encouragement. Santhome High school, Vidya Mandir etc (All in Chennai) are really good. I watched the 1993 England Australia Women's cricket final. It was fantastic. Basically if we give them the opportunities to perform, they will.

Manoj Chawla/Greg Chapman: Whom you consider as the best umpire India has ever produced and why?

Venkat: I can only ask from my playing days. Nelson Reuben would be the best for an umpire to be considered good, he has to be consistent in his decisions and interpretations of the laws. The umpire has to get the confidence of the players and captains. The body language counts

Y Sivaram: As off-spinners how do you rate/compare Muttiah Muralitharan & Saqlain Mushtaq?

Venkat: They're both successful in their own ways. They aren't necessarily equal because they are different. The variations in Saqlain are superb, much different from Murali who doesn't turn it away that much. Murali spins the ball so much on a bare track !Saqlain foxes the batsmen in other ways . The width of spin, bounce off the wicket and the loop are various parameters to consider. They both have great ability and variety. Murali has the better success record, I think. It's difficult to say who's better. I'd love to see both of them bowl. I'm quite happy.

Glenn Crawford: Is a batsman out if the ball hits the non-striker and is then caught by a fielder?

Venkat: The ball isn't dead. It's out. As long as the ball is not grounded (or dead), its in play. Unless the ball lodges in the umpire's apparel it isn't dead. The batsman has to be given out.

Saikumar: What kind of special preparation you do both physically and mentally before umpiring a match?

Venkat: If you think too much about the game you'll become nervous it should be there at the back of your mind, I wouldn't advise someone thinking about it all the time. The most important thing is you have to be physically fit to stand for a long time and mentally alert You also have to be very sure and poised when you give decisions and instill confidence in the players keep walking, training and keep myself fit. You need to take a lot of things to the center, not necessarily the laws ! You need paper, scissors, blades, cloth etc. Be focussed, that is the most important thing. You have to concentrate. If you miss one small instance, the decision can go wrong. I practice yoga, breathing exercises.

Sudip Datta: There are many players who bowl really well and still do not pick up many wickets. For example a bowler could beat the bat on a number of occasions and not get any success. In your experience is there any one person who you would say was unlucky?

Venkat: I've heard that in the pair of Statham and Trueman, Statham was unlucky. Even though he did take wickets !You can keep beating the bat, the other fast bowler takes wickets off long hops It is difficult to pinpoint someone. Statham just came to mind immediately.

Moderator: What was the feeling in the dressing room at the Oval Test in 1979?

Venkat: There were close decisions. In the end did it prove costly? We were all disappointed. Gavaskar and Chauhan did a superb job. It was a question of touch and go. It would have changed a lot of careers. A few decisions went against us, inadvertently possibly. Vishwanath's or Yajuvindra's or my runout. We were disappointed that we didn't make it, a matter of 8 runs or so. Coming back from how we were at the start of the tour, it was a case of fantastic teamwork but not much reflected in the final result.

Moderator: How did you feel being recalled for the 1983 tour of West And were you disappointed being dropped for the World Cup the same year?

Venkat: I was disappointed at losing out on the World Cup. I could have contributed. I still believe that if someone can bowl 10-1-25-1 in a 50 over game, he has done a great job. Better than 60 runs for 3 wickets. The selectors did the right thing and we won the World Cup !

Moderator: Do you think that the restructing of the Domestic circuit at the recent BCCI working committee augurs well for the future?

Venkat: Organisation structurewise we're very good, tournaments for every age group There are world level international youth tournaments. Some matches have no meaning though. It gives players a false sense of confidence. Say Bombay playing Assam, records made there make no sense. What we had then was quite good. What should happen is to train the players in playing fast bowling. That is part of the programme at the NCA in Bangalore. A classic example is the Australian Cricket Academy. Australia's second side would give most teams a run for their money. In the Ranji knock out system, too many games are being played. Making the Duleep trophy a league based one would make a lot of sense. Things don't happen overnight. Tendulkars and Kapils are once in a while, geniuses. To produce normal cricketers you have to work at the basic level. As far as facilities are concerned, we're very good. Pakistan produces good cricketers without those basic facilities. Is it just a question of mind, attitude or approach etc ?

Moderator: What is your role as member of the National Cricket Academy committee? What are the future plans of the NCA?

Venkat: The BCCI had Sunil Gavaskar, Raj Singh Dungarpur and Brijesh Patel as the main members. Polly and I were co-opted. We talked about running the academy. How to select players, coaches etc. It is not necessary that great players make good coaches. Bob Woolmer, Dav Whatmore etc. have done wonders with their teams. The coach has to find out the trivial faults in the batsman or bowler's technique. That is Hanumant's role. Binny and Vasu Paranjpe are helping him. Both are very good. A start has been made, it is going to be a long process though.

Moderator: Given a choice between umpiring and coaching which would you prefer?

Venkat: I don't think their needs to be a choice, I could do both. Being a player are you better placed than other umpires regarding bat/pad catches and LBW's. Definitely, it's a good question. It's all about handling pressure. Having been a player you know how to handle it and find out if the players are deliberately putting pressure on you. It doesn't imply that the best of players are the best umpires. I do believe that playing cricket at a certain level means you can handle it. A test cricketer could be a good selector. Having gone through different circumstances over a period of time, it would be easier.

Moderator: One of your greatest regrets was Tamil Nadu's failure to win the Ranji Trophy in your playing days. What would you attribute this too?

Venkat: One of my greatest regrets is not winning the Ranji trophy as a captain. In those days, we had good players but they didn't make enough hundreds. When Bombay made the Ranji, Ashok Mankad made hundreds. Brijesh made big hundreds for Karnataka. We had brilliant players who never converted the 70s into 100s.The bowlers didn't have enough runs to bowl with. The players were good but it was their inability to make big scores. It is very similar to what happened this year in the Ranji semi against Mumbai !

Moderator: How would you compare the spin quartet?

Venkat: We were totally different. Chandra was a freak and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. That is remarkable about him.He used to bowl left handed and sometimes even throw left-handed. Chandra was unique, in his own words he said he didn't know what he was going to do. How would hate batsman ! He could bowl two short balls and pull the batsman into complacency and produce a beauty next. Bishen was classy, he had the advantage of the ball leaving the bat which is always tougher. His forte was his loop. Bishen thought that if he had the batsman stumped or caught & bowled, it was an achievement because it meant he had foxed the batsman in the air and off the wicket. Pras and myself were different too. Pras was shorter, so he had to bowl at a different angle to reach the same good length spot. We had our own methods of foxing the batsman You were one of the best close in catchers of your time.

Moderator: Was it difficult to field close to the bat to the spinners where you depend more on instinct than anything else? How did you develop your catching skills? Could you describe your most satisfying catch?

Venkat: We had great close in catchers, Solkar and myself. Ajit and Abid supported us too. Catches win matches ! Fielding should be a passion. It has to come from inside. Today Azhar is doing so well at this age, he wants to excel and perform. The fielder has to have the inner feeling that if the ball gets past me within a reasonable distance it is an insult. You will then go for it most of the time and make it ! Training is good to a certain stage only. Physical training is a different aspect though. Ultimately it is the individual who takes the catches, reflex or instinctive catches. It was the Chepauk game in 1969/70. It was the last ball of the day, Walters was on 103. Bishen bowling. Walters edged it, Faroukh went for it, it went through him. I took the catch behind Faroukh diving to my left, it was very satisfying.

Moderator: As an umpire would you like to see a change in any laws of the game? For example it is said that the front foot no ball rule gives the umpire much less reaction time to take a decision. Any other examples like that?

Venkat: First and foremost substitute fielders and runners. The law now says that runners have to wear the same external apparel the batsman wears. In my opinion the greatest hindrance for running is the thigh pad. The runner should also wear the thigh pad. Another thing, The umpires are the sole judges of the game. The umpires have the right to provide a substitute if the opposite captain agrees. On one hand the umpire has the right, on the other hand the opposite captain could say no ! I'd like to see the umpire have the sole right to decide. On the no-ball rule, I'm comfortable with the current situation. The great fast bowlers of the last 15-20 years all bowled under this rule and very few bowled no balls. There are things we have to look into and we have been doing it. The matter is sub-judice. The laws are being created by the MCC and I was a part of it. It would come into being in September or October this year.

Moderator: If you were bowling to Sachin Tendulkar how would you try to plan out his dismissal?

Venkat: Depends on a lot of things. If the wicket is good, I'd wait and watch. He is a very good player playing inside out and in the 'V'. Having bowled to other great batsman, I guess I would have found something !

Jagannathan NS: You have been in various capacities, as a player, manager, and administrator. Which of these gives you a satisfaction of having achieved something....and why???

Venkat: Playing obviously, no two opinions. There is no substitute for playing.