The lifeline of any cricket match: Knowing the modus operandi of cricket scorers
Sitting down in your living room, surrounded by friends and colleagues in the stadiums, all set to lap up the day's proceedings. The scoreboard ticks over, and the team's names appear and the players names capture you.
The games begin, the score keeps ticking over, never a ball missed, never a stroke fades... Ever wondered about the people who stay in the background and in a very unassuming manner go about their business in an almost unblessed manner.
These unsung heroes are the scorers who form the crux of the battlefield and yet irrespective of the result of the 'war', no one bats an eyelid about their fates.
So then, what goes on in the minds of these scorers, what is their modus operandi, and what keeps them going on, what keeps them motivated to keep chugging along.
Sportskeeda spoke with TK Balaji, the chief scorer on the sidelines of the ongoing Karnataka Premier League and in a free flowing conversation, he chucked light on the entire process of keeping pace with the game which unfolds on the field.
Balaji is a BCCI scorer who has donned this hat for Ranji seasons, for IPL seasons and has also done the job for World Cup matches.
What is the process you follow and how do you coordinate with the umpires on the field?
The coordination process starts well before the match, and during the match, it is only a continuity of the process and in continues towards the end of the match. We talk to the umpires before the match about the playing conditions. During the match, we sit down and watch the proceedings and key in ball-by-ball updates. Well, now we have been provided an app by the BCCI and this is what we now use to score in matches.
Whatever happens before the match and during the match, we note them all, compile all the data and when the match ends, we take it down to the umpires for their signature.
Is there any particular method you still use to come on the same page with the umpires on field?
Yes, we do. As you must have observed, we switch on lights after every wide, leg bye, or any extras which help us in getting our message to the umpires. Also, the umpires signal something on the field and we make sure we acknowledge it here by switching on the light so that no signal goes missing and everyone is on the same page as only then will the umpires know that we have accepted their signal.
Tell us more about your own team, the team of scorers?
We have a scorer in the field who operates the big scoreboard on the ground, that very scoreboard provides all the information the audiences on the ground. So, if he has any doubt he communicates with us and we double check to make sure that there are no discrepancies when he keys in information for the big scoreboard. We use two walkie-talkies, one is used to communicate with all the scorers, and the other one is for establishing contact with the third umpire.
Since the process is all very manual, with the fast paced action, it is quite possible for few things to be missed. How then do you make sure it is resolved?
Well, yes, we do make mistakes, human after all, but then all is not lost. We have 2-3 scorers, so even if I miss, my other team members will most definitely be on it, so as a team we never miss anything, it is all down to coordination at the end of the day.
How rapidly has technology advanced and how has it made the job easier for you?
See, I have been doing this job for now 16 years, and yes the technology has made rapid strides and we have only benefitted from it, to be honest. If I may add, the growth has been exponential in the last 5-6 years. Earlier it was only manual, we never had any app scoring or online scoring. This app scoring was introduced by the BCCI almost 5-6 years ago and this is the best thing to have happened to us scorers. It is just so smooth to operate, we have no tension at all during matches.
Earlier, I remember when we used manual scoring, the entire process of entering the score and then calculating everything (the entire parameter) was a cumbersome process. No such problem faces us when we are now using this app.
What is the role of the BCCI and how supportive are they?
Very supportive, I must say, the role of the BCCI has been great as far as I am concerned. We have no issues even with the financial aspects, BCCI takes care of us very well.
There is no retirement age for scorers as of now if they are fit enough they continue to do scoring even when they above 70 years of age. As far as the pension scheme is concerned, I am not really aware of the structure.
Can young people look towards being a scorer as a career option?
Most definitively they can take up this profession, but if I am utterly honest with you, they cannot depend solely on this as a career, because this KPL or any such leagues just carry on for a month or a couple of months and then there is nothing else to do. Hence, I would advise all the people to look towards scoring as an option only if they are convinced they have other facets to fall on to after the season is over since it is not a source of regular income.
There is no salary, the scorers are paid on a per match basis, and the remuneration varies from tournament to tournament also.