Sachin Tendulkar inspired schoolmate to umpiring

Couto narrates his tale about time spent with master blaster and Kambli

Ricky Couto is known as the ‘Sachin Tendulkar of umpiring’ in Mumbai. It was about 22 years ago I met Couto when we were both attending an umpires coaching session conducted by the late umpire A.M. Mamsa at the Wankhede stadium. It was during this time I learnt of his closeness to Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli.

Couto, Tendulkar and Kambli are from the same school and were benchmates from Grade 7 to 10 at the Sharadashram School. Couto was a talented cricketer who was also coached by Tendulkar’s coach Ramakant Achrekar. He then went on to narrate how he became an umpire inspired by Tendulkar.

In 1993, Couto became the youngest umpire at the age of 16 and was mentioned in the Limca Book of Records as the youngest umpire in India.

On the eve of Tendulkar’s last match, Couto was at the Wankhede Stadium to bid farewell to his schoolmate Tendulkar. “I was one among the many cricket crazy kids in this city dreaming of making it big as a cricketer. I was initially studying at St Joseph’s High School in Wadala and then moved to Sharadashram School which was then well known for nurturing young cricketing talent. My batting ability caught the attention of Achrekar and I made it to the strong school team that had Tendulkar, Kambli, Amol Muzumdar and Mayur Kadrekar,” he recalled.

Joining a strong school team had its drawbacks too. “I never got a fair chance to bat. Kambli used to come one down, followed by Sachin. They used to do the bulk of the scoring and I used to get tired waiting in the pavilion with my pads on,” he remembers.

Soon he realised that to make it to the top rung as a cricketer was impossible. “One day, my brother Marcus Couto who had won a gold medal for being the most outstanding umpire of the then Bombay Cricket Association suggested I take up umpiring. He recalled his brother’s words: “Today you are playing under Tendulkar and Kambli. If you can take up umpiring, you can make them play under you.”

That when he decided that to remain involved with the game, he should become an umpire. “I knew that as an umpire I can watch the game from the closest position.”

In Mamsa’s umpiring classes, Couto stood out with his intelligent questions and finding solutions to tricky situations. Couto umpires Kanga League matches and has even umpired Tendulkar’s club matches.

When asked to recall an incident from his school days with Tendulkar, he said: “Tendulkar went on his first trip to England while at school with Star Cricket Club. He came back with a long big kit bag and brought it to school. We were back-benchers and Tendulkar and Kambli loved to play pranks. During the recess, some friends told Tendulkar that since I was a small boy [those days], I would fit well in his new kit bag. Tendulkar decided to prove it right and pushed me into the bag and zipped it up!” he fondly remembered.