Arguably, it is proof he does not always make good decisions.
Dunedin summers can be cruel. But he has no regrets about pursuing a career in umpiring and is making his way up the ranks.
He was promoted to the national panel this season and is thriving.
The 38-year-old is following in the footsteps of Derek Walker, Shaun Haig and Chris Gaffaney, who are from Otago and have all forged careers in umpiring.
They all played first-class cricket for the province, though.
Jagannathan played the game only socially and did not have that elite grounding to fall back on, so he had to climb his way up one good decision at a time and wait for an opportunity.
He moved from India to New Zealand 13 years ago for a change of lifestyle.
He was a qualified civil engineer but studied business at the University of Otago and has an MBA to go with his engineering degree.
Just for kicks, he did a diploma in psychology last year that occasionally comes in handy in the middle.
Jagannathan did a marketing internship at the Otago Cricket Association in 2012, which put him in contact with some helpful people.
But he had already started training to be an umpire and had done some officiating in India. So he swotted up on the laws and his first trainer was Dunedin cricket identity and former international umpire George Morris.
"I still remember some sessions with George and Shaun Haig at the time. We had some fantastic chats on technical aspects and other aspects that are required for the job," he said.
He passed an exam on cricket laws and was assigned his first club game.
"I can remember my first game because it was absolutely freezing at Bayfield Park. I probably had four layers and it was still freezing."
He recalls it was a match between University-Grange and Carisbrook-Dunedin.
Otago Cricket Association operations manager Tim O’Sullivan was playing for University-Grange in the game.
"He still gives me grief about not giving him lbws in that game," Jagannathan joked.
"I’ve enjoyed it ever since. I slowly started appreciating the challenges in the job.
"But that’s the main thing, right? You plan and prepare for those challenges, and if you come out on the right side, it’s very satisfying."
Even back then, he was ambitious to umpire professionally and it was clear he had the potential to rise through the grades.
He was named community cricket official of the year at the New Zealand Cricket Awards in 2017.
But it is still a seasonal job and more of a semi-professional gig. He was previously on the reserve panel for "about six years".
"It’s just like players: you play the game in front of you, do a good job, and hopefully selection will take care of itself," he said.
Essentially someone needs to get demoted or retire before a spot opens up. It is a competitive environment but also a lot more collaborative than people might imagine.
The umpires work together in teams to improve and there is feedback following every game, which could get emotionally exhausting without the support and resources made available by New Zealand Cricket.
Jagannathan’s focus this season has been on developing ways to cope with the quick turnaround that comes with a more consistent workload.
"It means you’ve got less time for recovery and less time for preparation for the next game.
"That means there’s a lot of discipline required on and off the field. There’s also more need for mental resilience because the odd mistake is likely to happen.
"Hopefully it’s just the odd mistake and it’s not too frequent. If that does happen, how do we recover?"
Playing conditions change from tournament to tournament and from format to format.
If it is an international, there is DRS to consider as well.
"We need to prepare for all that.
"The playing conditions for club cricket are very different from a Ford Trophy game, for example.
"If you go from Ford Trophy to a Plunket Shield fixture or a women’s international, the playing conditions are different, the number of cameras are different.
"Those sorts of changes can bring about different challenges for your preparation. It’s trying to adapt and cater to those changes."
There is lot more to it than just counting to six and deciding whether to put your finger up or not, obviously.
You need a tough outer layer as well — the mental resilience to bounce back and shake off a bad decision or some criticism.
"I think the key is to evaluate at the end of the match.
"It’s quite easy for us to go into evaluation mode immediately when you are facing criticism.
"If you can listen to whatever feedback you’re getting at the time, have some empathy as well, have some understanding of why you’re getting some comments back, accept it, and then commit to performing for the rest of the match the way you need to, and then evaluate at the end of the match.
"That gives you a pretty good chance of staying in the moment and executing as you need to.
"It’s just like batting, I think. I haven’t played professionally or anything like that, but I find a lot of similarity where, you know, batters say, ‘I just want to be ready for the next ball and play what is in front of me’."
