with the role played by him that he made a mention in his book ( Runs
n Ruins) and later in a newspaper article.

Being in Triplicane and walking distance from Chepauk, he was the go to man for TNCA in the 1970s for any last many umpiring postings that Murali would happily accept and cycle his way to the ground.

Umpiring

By 1980,
Murali had qualified for the Ranji Panel and within the next five years into
the national panel.Once in a Ranji match when Atul Wassan bowled successive bouncers at Tendulkar, Murali warned the fast bowler for intimidatory bowling. Each of the four short pitched balls was hit to/over the boundary as Tendulkar reached his century.‘When a batsman is hitting him out of the park every time, you do not warn thatbowler for intimidatory bowling. I will anyway be removed from the bowling’ remarked Wassan to Murali!!!

In the 1980s, postings for Ranji matches were few and far between and Murali took whatever chances that came his way.In 1989, he was set to make his test debut in a high profile match involving the Imran Khan led Pakistan team but unfortunately the tour was called off and he had to wait another 4 years for his international umpiring debut.

Sets up a Gavaskar meet Kamal star show

One of Murali’s memorable moments in his career came when he roped in Sunil Gavaskar all the way from Bombay for a ‘star meets star’ show with Kamal Hassan.

The Tamil Cine hero had just become a star in Bollywood after his runaway hit ‘Ek Duje