There were also a few who noted that Pathak’s voice was similar to batting great Sachin Tendulkar’s. He was heard speaking on the telecast while speaking to the third umpire.
“This umpire Paschim Pathak looks like Taher Shah and sounds like SRT,” said one such tweet referring to the Pakistani singer.
Pathak seems to have a penchant for attracting attention. In March 2016, he took the field wearing a helmet in an ICC World T20 warm-up game between a Mumbai Cricket Association XI and an England XI in Mumbai.
Pathak is a panel umpire of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), but the board evidently has no issues with his fashionable hairstyle — much unlike what hockey player RP Singh experienced in late 1980s.
Singh had shoulder length hair as a player, but then national coach MP Ganesh, a former India hockey captain, did not approve of the hairstyle and asked him to cut his hair. Singh didn’t agree with him — and still sports the same hairstyle. He is currently Director in Sports Directorate, Uttar Pradesh, and posted in Lucknow.
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