Anil Chaudhary, a veteran umpire, has announced his retirement from international cricket and the Indian Premier League. He will not be officiating at the upcoming IPL 2025 tournament.

Between 2013 and 2025, Chaudhary umpired 12 Tests, 49 ODIs, 64 T20Is, 131 IPL matches (the most on-field games by any umpire, alongside S Ravi), 91 first-class matches, 114 List A games, and 278 T20s.  

The Ranji Trophy final between Vidarbha and Kerala, contested in Nagpur from February 26 to March 2, was Chaudhary's final BCCI-affiliated game. His last international match as an umpire was the India against Australia One-Day International on September 27.

Interestingly, Chaudhary made his international debut on October 10, 2013, in a T20I encounter between India and Australia at Rajkot.

While some believe Chaudhary has 'retired' at the age of 60, he has stated that he has transitioned from umpiring to commentary. In fact, he is the first Indian umpire to transition full-time to commentary after officiating in international matches.

"I've transformed into a commentator now. It's a bit out of the box for me, broadcasting. For the last six months, I've been behind the mike. I commentated during the Champions Trophy in March, though I took a 'break' during that time for umpiring in the Ranji Trophy final. I've received very good feedback about my umpiring. The viewers feel that I give a different perspective since an umpire's perspective is completely different. People feel that I say interesting things on TV commentary," Chaudhary told Times of India.

He is the most experienced umpire in IPL history, having worked in 226 matches, 131 as an on-field umpire, 21 as a fourth umpire, and the remainder as a TV umpire.

Chaudhary is the only Indian to officiate in the Asia Cup final, where he stood in the middle of the summit (T20) match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka on September 11, 2022. He is perhaps the only umpire to have officiated in five Ranji Trophy finals.

"I'm going to umpire in T20 leagues in UAE and the US now. So, I'll play a dual role as an umpire and as a commentator. I'm also launching a YouTube channel called 'Umpire's Call by Anil Chaudhary,' and I'm forming a company, which will be called 'Voice & Verdict' in which I'll train the umpires," he said.

Meanwhile, in a bid to give them exposure to high-pressure, high-profile matches, the BCCI has introduced seven new India umpires for IPL-2025.

They are: Swaroopanand Kannur, Abhijeet Bhattacharya, Parashar Joshi, Anish Sahastrabuddhe, Keyur Kelkar, Koushik Gandhi, and Abhijeet Bengeri. Veteran umpires S Ravi and CK Nandan will be the mentors of the umpires in IPL 2025.

Michael Gough, Chris Gaffaney and Adrian Holdstock will be the three international umpires in the IPL.