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Death of the cricket commentator


Cricket commentary is an art. We have seen some practice this art quite wonderfully. Even though we do not live during the radio days where every ball had to be visualized through a throaty commentator emoting it over AM, we still love our commentary just as much as the game. It is the essential background music and only with appropriate commentary does a good cricket match become a great symphony.

In our eyes the Ravi Shastris, Harsha Bhogles and arguably Navjot Singh Sidhus are just as big as the super stars that don white or colors of the country and walk out on a green landscape with a solitary brown strip right in the middle. We have woken up and some of us continue to wake up at wee hours not just to catch great cricketing action around the world but also some sublime commentary that makes the match watching worthwhile even to the annoyance of the non-cricket watching family members.

Recent times have seen the launch of a flurry of sports channels. I was wondering if there is so much sporting action to cover at all. I was pleasantly mistaken when Star Sports started telecasting Ranji trophy and Ten sports telecasted Bangladesh Premier League. But then it was not perfect symphony because there is no commentary that is good enough.

Ravi Shastri is a great commentator. This is not because of he was one of the best players of his era. This is because of his command over English that makes him tip ahead of others. His diction leaves people in awe and when he is behind the mic. Harsha Bhogle doesn’t have an international cricketing career to sport. But he does have a penchant for words. Most people remain glued to television sets when he is on air explaining the nuances of cricket or playfully pulling his co-commentator’s leg.

The situation today clearly is a far cry from ideal. There is clearly dearth of good commentary. Waqar Younis was one of the best bowlers of his era but his diction is as good as his batting. There are so many errors he makes in just one sentence that sometimes can leave a person watching cricket confused. There is no doubting his credentials but does it warrant a place for him in commentary is a question to ponder upon. There has been a steady injunction of many erstwhile cricketers who became commentators and they leave a lot to be desired. If this is a problem with English commentary, Hindi commentary is probably worse. Rahul Dravid is yet another cricketing great but he probably never needed Hindi to become that and hence his Hindi is just as bad. Hindi commentary has a funny element to it. The true translations of cricketing terms can be quite amusing. This is bound to be the case because cricket as a sport evolved in English speaking nations. But the beauty of it all is that the commentator delivering in Hindi actually knows the appropriate Hindi word for that English term. That speaks of superior language skills. Am sure Rahul Dravid doesn’t come under that category of being a Pandit in Hindi.

With sporting channels becoming intensely competitive the quality of viewing especially in the aforementioned aspect has taken a huge beating. It is time to introspect this and find out what the solution can be. Overseas commentators often offer the solace of delivering good commentary in English. So the question to be asked is if we need more of them? Does a successful cricketing career mean an automatic berth in the commentator panel? Can we look at people who are not cricketers but possess excellent knowledge of cricket and can talk with ease and poise? It probably helps sports channels to have glamorous names in the commentator panels. But the viewing experience is very disturbed. It makes the picture and sound asymmetric. Part time commentators should probably stick to IPL which is a lot of sing and dance apart from cricket anyway. For a nation serious about cricket a serious look needs to be taken at this.


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