An umpiring referral stands between Sahil Bhaskar and a hat-trick. The yorker machine is on fire, dishing out thunderbolts that serve as metaphorical barricades to Jalandhar Warriors’ entry in the Sher-e-Punjab T20 League final. As the on-field decision goes upstairs, Mohali waits with bated breath.
Anticipation thickens the air. Journalists get away from the keyboard, raising their busy fingers toward the television above to point at the ball that seems to be missing leg-stump. Social media teams take a break from brainstorming witty captions and editing graphics, their attachment lording over algorithmic urgency. Players stand frozen in the middle, eyes transfixed at the giant monitor where the slow pace of the procedure hints at a delay in the final verdict. The ecosystem, in its entirety, has been stopped in its tracks except for a trio clad in blue polo shirts.
Far removed from the overarching stillness of the stadium, they’re deep into activity. An entry here, a click there. A black walkie-talkie lying on their bench contrasts the white spread of paperwork, one leaflet of which features rows and columns dotted with red and blue markings. Speaking in hushed tones if the need for cross-verification arises, these gentlemen form the backbone of Indian cricket, their line of work entailing zilch margin for error.
In an exclusive conversation, veteran scorer and statistician Rajesh Arora lets White Glove into the intricate world of cricket scoring, an occupation that deserves acknowledgement for being the oxygen to this fair, flourishing sport.
Tell us about the origins of your journey. When did cricket become an integral part of your life? How did you arrive at the decision to pursue scoring professionally?
We played sports growing up. I managed to get into my school’s football side but once I entered college I started playing cricket. Godrej Cricket Club was quite popular in Chandigarh and I served as its captain for years. We won a lot of local trophies. I bowled medium pace and batted in the middle-order. We had a habit of counting our individual and overall runs while batting because the scorers were not always attentive. Desh Prem Azad, who won the first Dronacharya Award for cricket, was our coach. He knew about my mathematical background so when an international match between India and England took place in Chandigarh in 1985, he asked me to score. It was a shortened affair, 15 overs each side. Hence, the first game I ever scored in officially was an international match!
Then I scored in India versus Sri Lanka in 1990, the first international match Sachin Tendulkar played on Indian soil, and in the interim, I continued to practise the craft at the levels beneath. My interest kept growing with time. We used to maintain statistical records in our club games and analyze each other’s performance once every quarter to learn about the areas of improvement. In 1996, senior scorer Rakesh Sanghi requested IS Bindra that the Punjab Cricket Association should form a scorer’s panel. Thus an exam was conducted and a seminar was held in Nagpur, where national-level scorers were invited to mentor us. I topped that exam and never looked back.
In these last 41 years, there have been quite a few magical moments that I have witnessed. Most notably, when Sachin scored the first ODI double century by any male cricketer, I was the official scorer. I have a lot of World Cups under my belt. I’m also associated with All India Radio.
Despite the 1983 World Cup victory, sports wasn’t really considered a viable career option back then. Did you face any discouragement while foraying into scoring? Also, we’d love to hear more about the visionary concept of maintaining records at the club level.
In 1982, I bagged a job in the field of civil engineering at the age of 18. The security that role gave me helped immensely. It allowed me to pursue scoring on the side. There was no pressure from my family either because both my parents worked stable jobs. I was bright in studies too so they pushed me into extra-curricular activities. Punjab anyway has a sporting culture. Without that well-paying job in hand it’d have been impossible to do scoring, however, since it paid only 50 rupees per day in that era. It grew slowly and at present, BCCI pays us 15,000 rupees per day of duty. At that stage I had no idea that this vocation would flourish; I was simply doing it out of passion.
Cricket took me around the whole country as there used to be an All-India Offices Tournament, conducted on a rotation model. I observed that Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were pioneers when it came to recording data. I’ve never seen the same attention to detail in Delhi’s club cricket. As players proceeded to the next level from our region – Kapil Dev, Chetan Sharma, Dinesh Mongia, Yuvraj Singh and VRV Singh – a certain professionalism was inculcated within the Ranji team as far as statistics are concerned. Mr. Rakesh would travel with the Ranji team for this specific purpose.
At that juncture, were there any certification programs one could undertake to facilitate their entry into scoring?
There were no pathways at all. I had to develop my own system to score. The box method was traditionally followed during that period. Huge notebooks, remember? A single ball’s entry had to be done in three places: Batsman, bowler and total runs. Later we adopted the linear method of scoring devised by Bill Frindall. It was more convenient and if you slipped up by mistake, it was easier to cross-check and rectify errors. Around me there were no training centres, I learned it all by myself but Mumbai did have one coaching institute. The scorers’ association over there held workshops. So Mr. Bindra, who was helming both our state association as well as BCCI, took up the initiative and staged a workshop in Nagpur. That was the first time an official program was launched and all the successful candidates got their certifications. It featured people from all over India. Now it has become a recurring theme and every couple of years a seminar is organized.
Detail the scoring methods of that era. How did you equip your knowledge bank with the prevailing rules and regulations? I mean cricketing laws are rather complex and this is a craft that requires intricate understanding.
My association with cricket came in handy, in the sense that I already had foundational knowledge. I was also closely involved with the organization of tournaments in my formative years. The JP Atray tournament has been going on since 1992, so initially we used to create its rulebook and hand it over to umpires. Now, as far as accuracy is concerned, I was academically strong. We had a habit of tallying and cross-verifying our scoring work before submitting. Batting scores, bowling analysis, extras, fielding markers. Since we’d been employing the box method to score for almost a decade up until 1996, errors used to be far and few in between, the imperfect module notwithstanding. When we arrived at the linear method, we found it rather foolproof.
In 2006, Anil Kumble’s brother developed a system for scoring which the board adopted. From there onwards, the digitization process began. Earlier it used to happen on laptops; the current BCCI software is on iPad. BCCI appoints two scorers for any match, one who manually fills the sheet which is considered an official record whereas the other scores online.
I worked for an Australian website – which was the official score supplier for Cricket Australia – from my home for seven years. We covered hundreds of cricket matches across formats, taking place globally. I gained so much experience that the scope of error practically came down to zero. I have also tried my hand at golf and lawn tennis scoring. It was a challenge in the beginning but soon became fun. This field has taken a lot out of me, I have done the hard yards in order to excel. As a direct consequence, my family has had to sacrifice a lot. My meals and refreshments had to be brought to my table. I am indebted to my loved ones for their support all through despite the fact that I was not able to give them a lot of quality time due to the travel- and labour intensive nature of my professional commitments.
In what ways did the digital boom transform scoring? Has technology made manual scoring redundant? How did the scoring community make the transition given the age demographic in this field is elderly in general?
It was perplexing when everything shifted to digital. The softwares were defective initially. BCCI launched a software that worked on computers and the majority struggled to adapt. Imagine a four day match and you’ve finished scoring day one, then when you return to work the following day all the records get erased. Then you have to fill up from ball one depending on the manual back-up. It was quite taxing and as a result, the attrition rate rose in those two years. Scorers had to pull all-nighters if the system failed them out of nowhere. There wasn’t exact knowhow on how to rectify mistakes instead of starting all over. The parameters were off, where you fed an entry and where it ended wasn’t always harmonious. In those scenarios, the manual recording was the saviour.
Cut to the present, the softwares are excellent. Correction-friendly, super smart, easy to operate. Personally speaking, the transition was manageable because of my exposure to advanced tech in my Australian gig, but my supporting cast went through a tough time. We decided to pass on the feedback to the engineers, to no avail. With a new company, scorers sat alongside the techies to ensure our modus operandi is factored into the functionality of the updated software. This whole process was being carried out in the aegis of BCCI as foreign countries had already moved in that direction. I also showed the Australian platform to BCCI head honchos in the seminar.
In the manual era, people used to call in between our shifts asking for the score since only a handful of games were broadcasted on radio. Picking up their calls to notify them was another hassle that digitization sorted out. The modern technology is flawless, making the work more enjoyable. In terms of time saving, the current module is better but we do maintain a manual backup still on a linear sheet so that in the event of a glitch or network failure, we can make amends. In the inaugural IPL, Punjab Kings and Chennai Super Kings played in Mohali. 450 runs were scored in that match. If you score that high-octane game manually, mistakes are bound to happen. Thank God the computerized version existed by that juncture otherwise we’d have been in big trouble as the game was moving at the rate of knots, leaving us with inadequate bandwidth to make all the entries manually.
Through that fixture we realized the importance of a digital system, which is automated and fetches entries by default. There are two simple steps, wagon wheel and runs scored is all you need to register, pitch pad occasionally. The rest it registers on its own. If a batter takes a single, the strike changes automatically. These little enhancements make a world of difference.
Please shed light on the DLS and VJD calculation methods that come into play when bad weather interrupts the action.
VJD was designed by an engineer named V Jayadevan in Tamil Nadu. It is MS-DOS based and a Windows version hasn’t been launched. DLS is Windows-based and works on Java. It was created by three professors from Australia, firstly Duckworth and Lewis before Stern joined forces. There was a match where Australia scored 325 odd and India were cruising in the chase before rain interrupted the proceedings. India had scored around 110 for the loss of just one wicket and the revised target came up to be 122. So India ended up needing very few runs to pocket a win in three or four overs. Ricky Ponting blew a gasket, stating that the enormity of their total wasn’t considered in this computation process. That’s when Dr. Stern came into the picture and changed the graphics.
He created different landmarks that if a team scored 250, a unique set of principles will apply. Different for 275, 300 and 325. VJD also works on the same guideline, keeping in mind how many resources and overs are left for the chasing side. VJD is still used in domestic cricket while DLS is employed in internationals. BCCI has not yet adopted DLS. The professor who made the VJD method gave a presentation to ICC in Dubai but they were not so impressed and thought DLS is the best procedure for now. These methodologies revolve around the fall of wickets. That is the most important yardstick.
Earlier, the manual processing of revised targets was a tough task. There weren’t enough people in the production side of things to help around. We’d print out the equations after chalking out the DLS mathematics manually, then hand it over personally to the teams, broadcaster and referees in the innings break.
By the turn of the century, you’d already spent more than a decade at the scoring desk. Then came the internet, making entertainment and dopamine hits accessible while shrinking attention spans to that of goldfish. We’re surrounded by distractions. Messages, calls, notifications, and social media. How do you ensure absolute attention to the task as any lapse of concentration can prove costly?
We have an unwritten rule of using the phone less, be it picking up calls or being active on social media. That is how we’re able to concentrate on the match throughout. Nowadays people are hooked to reels, but we never really developed a liking for cheap thrills. This is one reason why youngsters find it tough in this industry nowadays, in spite of the tempting pay that BCCI offers.
Is BCCI’s payout a reflection of the low influx or is there a conscious effort to recognize your diligence?
See, BCCI did not have this much fund back in the day. Nowadays, there is no shortage of cash flow owing to multiple revenue streams. Players, umpires, and referees alike have benefited from the trickle-down effect. We are indeed thankful to BCCI that before retirement approaches, they’re paying us handsomely.
We spoke about mental alignment but this vocation also requires prolonged seating. You literally cannot leave your chair. It must take a toll on your body. As a preventive measure, do you follow any fitness routines?
Yes, morning and evening walks alongside light exercise are essential. We stretch so that the body structure remains in order. In this profession we have to be extremely mindful of our dietary habits. We cannot overeat or consume too much tea or coffee, keeping nature’s call at bay. All the scorers follow the same routine of eating in moderation and having just enough water to prevent dehydration. Eating extravagantly makes you drowsy so that is also best avoided. Touchwood, thanks to my active lifestyle as I also played recreational cricket till the age of 53, I have prevented issues with the back but fraternity members have struggled with serious injuries and diseases. Those who are able to sustain themselves in this field have managed to take good care of themselves.
Scoring is an extremely repetitive task and yet you have dedicated an entire lifetime to this art. What keeps you going? How do you keep saturation or mental fatigue at bay?
The passion is still alive, but in order to divert my attention and keep myself fresh I do seek out recreational activities. I listen to a lot of music and watch the odd movie. Apart from scoring obligations, I’m also PCA’s official statsperson so work does turn all-consuming. Yet the love for the skill and sport is the driving force, otherwise sustaining this career is hard. We deliberately pick stressbusters to blow off some steam.
With ever-changing rules like Impact Player, Power Surge and PowerPlay norms, how do you acclimatize? Talk to us about the degree of theoretic consumption.
We have to stay updated, without fail. I have created a file for the impact players used during Sher-e-Punjab. We fill these columns on the scoring sheet obviously but besides we maintain a separate record. Who replaced whom and how the substitute fared? In terms of the updated playing conditions, the concerned authorities apprise us of everything beforehand. Besides, there is a conscious effort from our side to be up to date.
Enlighten us about your relationship with the media. Scores and statistics are the heartbeat of cricket writing. Do you feel a sense of creative satisfaction when your contributions enhance the reportage, helping people appreciate the nuances of the game better?
Moral support means a lot. It feels really nice when the data provided by us is reflected in a quality report. It is a source of immense creative satisfaction. My relations with the media have been enriching, Vijay Lokapally in particular. Whatever the demand is, we attempt to fulfill. Nowadays the scribes and commentators are adept at number-crunching so the degree of dependence has reduced. In the process of team selections, we act as a sounding board for the state association thanks to our sheer exposure to live cricket. We appreciate people seeing merit in our observations.
Share with us moments when your illustrious services in this field were recognized?
In my professional alliance with Punjab Engineering College, I have been felicitated twice because of my services to the field of scoring. BCCI has not done it ever. PCA has on multiple occasions. Recently, upon the conclusion of the Sher-e-Punjab T20 League, the scorers were conferred with medals in the presentation ceremony. We were given the due respect during the JP Atray tournament. It keeps us motivated.
Worldwide, scorers are an indispensable component of cricket’s machinery but the majority of people do not even know that we exist. They have no clue about a scorer’s role. Our efforts go largely unnoticed as we remain perennially behind the scenes, and perhaps that is why we also fly under the radar when it comes to BCCI recognizing our services. There hasn’t been any attempt from the governing body to give us our flowers. If I’m being brutally honest I’ve killed that desire to be appreciated and I’m sure that is a sentiment other scorers echo because if we think about validation we won’t be able to do our work honestly.
41 years given to the sport. Assessing your own physical and mental capabilities, what is the plan in the near future? Are you contemplating retirement or do you still have more left in the tank? Does BCCI have any pension schemes or financial endowment plans for scorers coming towards the end of their careers?
No, nothing as such. Only players receive pension. However, BCCI does provide insurance if scorers require medical attention during the game. BCCI mandates that scorers cannot continue working post the age of 65, so I have one year of service left. Beyond that I’ll keep working for PCA till I’m capable. Giving time to family now is on top of my priority list.
Have any conversations around mentorship materialized given you hold a wealth of experience and are in a position to pass on that wisdom to the next generation of scorers?
Actually I have guided a lot of youngsters in their journey of becoming a scorer. A few of them have earned BCCI affiliations. If anyone approaches me and asks for help, I’m always glad to assist. On occasions match referees need some support with regard to exam preparation or calculations, even if it takes a couple of hours I make sure their queries are resolved.
What is your outlook on the prospect of artificial intelligence eating up a scorer’s job in the future?
You never know, tomorrow human intervention may not be required. In corporate cricket scorers are largely non-existent as things stand. Locally from what I’ve seen the leg-umpire does the needful. Given the rate at which technology is evolving I believe AI will impact scoring but still manual scoring will persist and BCCI as well as state associations will maintain that status quo as a back-up because this whole vocation is contingent on accuracy and automated systems can’t be trusted blindly. One small mistake, if went unchecked, can throw the entire mechanism into disarray. Sustained accuracy is what I’ve delivered over the years, and that’s my little legacy in the huge world of cricket.
