From Indian Idol stage to officiating Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni as IPL umpire: The unusual journey of Parashar Joshi

When umpire Parashar Joshi officiated at the Women's Premier League (WPL) last year, he became the subject of many a meme as several fans talked about his resemblance to cricketer Shreyas Iyer. But Parashar has something in common with Shreyas. He has played the game too, but not at the highest-level. A former club level cricketer, Parashar is a man who wears many hats; and the one that first got him noticed was that of a singer. And it happened on Indian Idol, of all places.

Parashar Joshi, the singer

Parashar auditioned for Indian Idol right from the first season. But after three rejections, he eventually made it to the piano round (as the second round was then called) on season 4, back in 2008. Parashar still has the video of his appearance on Indian Idol on Instagram. In a post he shared in 2023, he wrote, "18th Oct 2008. 15 years!! How time flies!! If only the 23-yr-old me knew then what an adventure the next 15 years were gonna be." Parashar made it to the final round of Indian Idol 4, only to exit soon after. He continued singing, while also playing cricket alongside.

Parashar still performs across India, and creates new music and covers of old songs too. In 2023, he shared the stats of his streams on Spotify, adding gratefully that his music had 13k listeners on the platform from 48 countries.

How Parashar entered cricket

The Pune lad had played club cricket since he was a teenager, even before he auditioned for Indian Idol. But by 2005, Parashar had realised he would never make it to the top level. He still kept playing to maintain physical fitness and to stay in touch with the game he loved. In 2015, he was selected in BCCI's panel of umpires. The 30-year-old went to officiate in domestic tournaments like the Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy, before making it big with the WPL in 2024.

In 2025, he was among the seven new umpires the BCCI introduced for the Indian Premier League (IPL). On April 5, he officiated his first IPL game between MS Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings and KL Rahul's Delhi Capitals. He has since stood in games featuring the top stars of Indian and world cricket, including Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Andre Russell, Rishabh Pant, Mitchell Marsh, and many more.

Parashar's social media bio reveals that apart from cricket and singing, he has one more love - biking. His Instagram is full of videos of his ride, which he does in between umpiring and singing gigs.