The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 could witness a unique and emotional moment. Tanmay Srivastava, a former teammate from India's 2008 U19 World Cup-winning side, is now starting a new journey as an IPL umpire.

Tanmay Srivastava used to be a good young batter and was a key part of India's U19 World Cup win while Virat Kohli was captain. He is the first person in the history of the IPL to play in it and also work as an official.

Not only was Tanmay Srivastava on the team in 2008, he also scored the most runs for India in that event.  He scored 262 runs, making him one of the team's most dependable batters.  The 43 runs he scored in the final against South Africa were very important to India's win.

Experts and selectors in cricket saw Tanmay, Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey, Ravindra Jadeja, and Saurabh Tiwary as some of India's rising stars at the time.  Tanmay's path did not go the same way as those of his teammates, who went on to make a name for themselves in world cricket.

Tanmay played for Kings XI Punjab in the first two IPL seasons, 2008 and 2009, but he didn't make a big impression.  He eventually faded from public view and continued to play cricket for Uttar Pradesh. He scored almost 5,000 first-class runs, including 10 centuries, at an average of 34.39.

Even though his domestic career looked good, he chose to stop playing professional cricket in 2020, when he was only 30 years old.  Tanmay could have quit the game, but instead, he found a new calling: being an umpire.  Because he worked hard and trained, he is now in the IPL, which is the biggest T20 league in the world, but in a completely different job.

Tanmay Srivastava will be on the field with many of his old friends during the IPL season, but not as a player.