A new franchise league, CLT10, is going to start, as its auction was held recently. Anil Chaudhary, the Indian umpire, who has officiated in 12 Tests, 49 ODIs, and 64 T20Is, was present in the ceremony. The Delhi-born also featured in one Women’s Test match, 11 ODIs, and three WT20Is.

The last game for the umpire was between Vidarbha and Kerala in February 2025 at Nagpur in a first-class game during the Ranji Trophy 2025 clash. In an exclusive interview with the website, he shared his views on the England-India Test series and the relationship between India and Pakistan ahead of the Asia Cup 2025.

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Exclusive!! Anil Chaudhary opens up on India’s refusal to shake hands with Ben Stokes during Eng vs Ind 4th Test

Chaudhary revealed his views on the upcoming CLT10 league and the India-England series during an exclusive interview.  

Reporters: A new league, CLT10, is going to start, and the auction also happened today. Please share something regarding this with our viewers.

Anil Chaudhary: When I first came, it felt like a tennis cricket. But later, I was taken aback by the huge system they have organized in a professional way. Those who are in the other league need to understand the depth of this league. Charu Sharma, the leading auctioneer, is doing this today, and it was outstanding how he was doing it professionally, giving so much time.

Reporters: You have been watching India’s Test series in England. Shubman Gill has led them brilliantly and excelled with the bat. But they can’t win the series and can only draw it. If you have any takeaways on that, what will they be?

Anil Chaudhary: See, whenever India plays England or India faces Australia, especially in the away series, it always remains exciting. The young team has done pretty well. You don’t have two experienced players; Mohammed Shami is not part of the series, and Jasprit Bumrah is on and off. So, I think, they have done extremely well.

Reporter: In the fourth innings, we saw an instance where Ben Stokes came to shake hands, but India refused to do so because they wanted to celebrate the centuries. What’s your take on it?

Anil Chaudhary: He is such a good player that he should not have done that. Who misses hundreds? Even they would have done the same. These mental games keep going on in Test matches. They didn’t take it to heart and kept batting to notch up the centuries.

Reporter: The clash of India vs Pakistan in the semifinal of the WCL 2025 was called off. The same happened in the group stage. However, the Asia Cup 2025 is scheduled a few months later. How do you see these things?

Anil Chaudhary: See, it’s the administrators’ job. I am not even following it. I have no idea about it, and the Indian Government will make the final decision.

Former ICC umpire Anil Chaudhary recently shared his experiences of umpiring in India's Test matches during the time when Virat Kohli was the captain of the team.

Anil Chaudhary retired from umpiring earlier in 2025. He stepped away from both ICC tournaments and the Indian Premier League. His last international match was between India and Australia in 2024, and his final domestic game was the Ranji Trophy final in 2025.

Chaudhary’s umpiring career spanned over a decade, from 2013 to 2024/25. During this time, he officiated as an on-field umpire in 12 Test matches, 49 One Day Internationals (ODIs), and 64 T20 Internationals. In the Indian Premier League (IPL), he stood in 131 matches. His domestic record is also impressive, with 91 first-class matches, 114 List A games, and 278 T20 matches.

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Chaudhary, during his umpiring career, said that he witnessed the fear Virat Kohli created on the field. He claimed that opposition teams were scared of Kohli’s aggressive mindset. According to Anil Chaudhary, Kohli’s presence on the field always kept the opposition under heavy pressure.

In a recent interview with The Indian Express, Anil said, "I did on-field umpiring and I’ve seen it myself, the other team was literally scared of Virat Kohli and they were under next-level pressure. More than half of the team’s attention would be on Kohli. Just seeing him made the opposition players tremble, that’s the kind of aura Kohli had."

Umpire Anil Chaudhary said - "I did on-field umpiring and I’ve seen it myself, the other team was literally scared of Virat Kohli and they were under next-level pressure. More than half of the team’s attention would be on Kohli. Just seeing him made the opposition players… pic.twitter.com/4puG4pzmWa

— Tanuj (@ImTanujSingh) July 4, 2025

Kohli holds the record for the highest individual score by an Indian Test captain with 254*. He became the Indian Test captain in 2015 and has mostly batted at No. 4 since then. Between 2015 and 2019, Kohli hit his peak in Test cricket and took Team India to new heights in the format.

However, current Indian captain Shubman Gill has now gone past Kohli's achievements, and that too outside Asia, performing brilliantly on the challenging pitches of England.

In a pulsating IPL 2025 encounter between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK), the focus shifted from the heart-stopping action to a strange incident regarding Dewald Brevis and the Decision Review System (DRS) in the 17th over of CSK's chase, not long after the dismissal of the stunning Ayush Mhatre, who amassed 94 runs. 

Brevis, who was playing his first delivery from compatriot Lungi Ngidi, was struck on the pads; the umpire raised his finger quickly, and while the batters continued running, CSK's wicketkeeper pulled off a direct hit at the non-striker's end. What followed was panic, confusion, and miscommunication that may have cost CSK the game.

Brevis was seen among the mayhem consulting with Ravindra Jadeja as he deliberated about the possibility of using the DRS, but the 15-second timer that needs to be shown every time for a review was never shown anywhere on the screen. Eventually, when Brevis eventually did signal for the review, the umpire informed him that the timer had run out. This was unfortunate for CSK, as replays afterwards showed that the ball was going to completely miss the stumps.

Umpire Anil Chaudhary Clarifies the DRS Confusion

In a post-game interview with Star Sports, on-field umpire Anil Chaudhary clarified the controversial incident: “When five seconds are left on the timer, the on-field umpire informs the players — it is part of the protocol. But it is for the first time that I have seen the batters running after the decision has already been made,. He went on to explain that when a batter is out, the ball is then dead, and running just does not make sense. 

Watch the video here

One of the most talked-about calls of the match 🔍

Experienced umpire #AnilChaudhary weighs in on the #DewaldBrevis decision#IPLRace2Playoffs 👉 #KKRvRR | SUN 6th MAY, 2:30 PM on Star Sports 2, Star Sports 2 Hindi & JioHotstar! pic.twitter.com/IlFRFxXLAr

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) May 3, 2025

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Jadeja was clearly agitated and voiced his frustration with the officials about the clarification and communication outdoors when it mattered most. His frustrations are reasonable; in hindsight, if the review was taken in a timely manner, Brevis would not have been given out, and maybe the entire game would have changed. 

With Brevis walking back for a golden duck and CSK losing their early momentum, RCB took full advantage of the opportunity and closed out the game. All in all, the game made for a brilliant commercial for T20 cricket, but with the DRS controversy, it has kicked off discussions once again about process clarity and on-field communication.

Ishan Kishan, a wicketkeeper-batter for Team India, seems to cast a shadow on Rizwan Mohammad of Pakistan for his constant appealing. Kishan spoke with Anil Chaudhary, a former umpire, and went on to suggest that someone’s level of appeal can get so extreme that the umpire will give the player out even if they shouldn’t.

‘No, these days umpires are wiser,’ Kishan said on a separate occasion. He adds, In my opinion, appealing from behind the stumps needs to be done appropriately; however, umpires might also get fed up with far too many appeals in such a way that people are forced to stop trusting genuine calls. ‘I think umpires have gotten smarter. There are too many unnecessary appeals, where if a player is clearly out, then there could be a chance they are given as not out. It's best to make an appeal only when there's huge confidence so even the umpires trust such judgment,’ Kishan noted. He commented that if he were to become styled like Rizwan, the men in blue may not even think before making the decisions.

Umpire Anil Chauhdary & Ishan Kishan making fun of Rizwan.

pic.twitter.com/HWoZ68cxnd

— M (@anngrypakiistan) March 26, 2025

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This discussion highlights the contrasting approach of players like Dhoni behind the stumps, where appeal after such a standard appeal was granted with such precision, further heightened by the fact that they're rather deep breaths of not dealing with Rizwan over appeals. While Dhoni’s appeals were well calculated, some, like Rizwan, have claims that end up making life tough for officials.

Kishan acknowledged umpiring’s pros and concurred that some umpires are quite respected, but others need to do better. He encouraged new umpires to be firm with their judgment calls and not give in to loud appeals or other outside influences.

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“A few particular umpires are rather comforting to watch in a game, but I think new umpires as a whole need to step up their confidence levels, because at times there is too much second-guessing. If they think a batter is out, they should not need to think twice before raising the finger,” he further stated.

Anil Chaudhary Steps Down As International and IPL Umpire
Veteran Indian umpire Anil Chaudhary has confirmed his retirement from international cricket and Indian Premier League (IPL). After serving for years at the international level, he has decided to relinquish these duties and look for other prospects.

New Role in Cricket
Though retiring from international umpiring and IPL, Chaudhary will be very much engaged with the game. He has already expressed his desire to be a commentator and also officiate for UAE and US T20 leagues. These are growing very fast, and his experience will elevate their umpiring panels to the next level.

🚨 ANIL CHAUDHARY RETIRES FROM INTERNATIONAL & IPL UMPIRING 🚨

- He will be concentrating in commentary and umpiring in T20 Leagues in UAE & US. [Gaurav Gupta from TOI] pic.twitter.com/8xKbmOyoyJ

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) March 21, 2025

Anil Chaudhary's Umpiring Career Chaudhary has umpired international matches, domestic cricket, and the IPL as a neutral umpire. He has umpired a few ODIs, T20Is, and IPL matches, making important on-field decisions. His temperament and extensive experience of the game have earned him the respect of players and fans alike.

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T20 Leagues and Commentary With franchise T20 leagues gaining more traction, players like Chaudhary are in demand. The fact that he has played for UAE and US-based T20 leagues indicates that such leagues are able to attract the best cricketing talent, even umpires. Moreover, his transition to commentary will enable him to pass on his experience and expertise to an even larger number of people.