Cricket Commentary

Yesterday night I was watching India vs. South Africa match. Basically I was waiting for Laxman and Dhoni’s century. The commentators were full on with their analysis. On that time Laxman Shivaramakrishnan and Darrel Cullinun was in commentary box. Suddenly one small conversation caught my ear. It’s not word by word, but I am trying to quote them here.
Shiva: India is having so many support stuffs from South Africa. Gary Kirsten, Paddy Upton, Siemence.
Cullinun: Yeah. These two countries are in good relation for such a long time. Isn’t it? It’s around 150 years.
Shiva: No way, whoever are the support stuffs, its India who is playing good. It’s India who is at rank 1 and south Africa at no 2. Nobody cares support stuffs belong from which country
Cullinun: Hey am not saying that. I am saying relation between India and South Africa. Since Gandhi went there we are in good relation.
Shiva: Look, first test was all about your country. Now we are playing good. These guys are playing like champions.

Then Cullinun stopped talking on this topic. Shivaramakrisnan kept talking on the same line. Now can anybody relate Shiva’s comment regarding the statement Cullinun made? Is he dumb? Does he at all capable to sit in the commentary box?

Commentary in cricket is far far different than other sports. In a slow game like cricket where one can find plenty of time gaps between balls and over. So they need to utilize the time to speak something sensible and entertaining so that television viewers don’t lose interest in the game. Yes I am talking about television commentary only. Again it is different than commentary over radio. In TV everything is in front of you, the score, who is bowling from which end, how the shot is offered, how the players reacted. For radio, listeners look for every minute detail. If you ever listened to radio commentary you will find it is like “Dale Styne starting a new over from the pavilion end, bowling with 3 slips and one deep gulley…..he put the ball short….Dhoni goes for a pull…..but didn’t manage to connect it properly. Ball went to midwicket region, Kallis fielded the ball, and one run scored. India 556/6 after the first ball of 143rd over.”
Now days there are so many sports channels and so much cricket is being played, everybody started their commentary career. I feel in last 6-8 years the quality of commentary has deteriorated a lot. The guys who are good commentators are still doing good. But the new comers didn’t able to make any impact. Being a good player is not the condition to be a commentator. Look at Harsha Bhogle, without playing any sorts of cricket he is now an expert commentator.
Lets look into some great commentators. First name comes into my mind is Richie Benaud. His voice and style of talking is really soothing. There is no doubt about his game reading capability as well. That made him a copybook commentator. However still I think his genre is test match only. For ODI and T20 we need some exciting voice especially in death. Just like Tony Greig. I still remember his shout when Kanitkar hit Saqlin Mustaq for four to win the final against Pakistan in Bangabondhu stadium in Bangladesh chasing 314. Geofrey Boycott is another legend. How can I forget his exciting commentary in Taunton Cricket ground during 1999 world Cup. I like Ravi Shastri, Gavaskar, Holding, Harsha Bhogle and Wasim Akram’s commentary. Ramij Raja’s talking style is good but the problem is whenever Pakistan plays, he becomes partial. Whatever Pakistan does, appears good move for him. Same problem is there with Navojyot Sidhu with India. But When I see commentators like Laxman Shivaramakrishnan, Venkatesh Prasad, Sanjay Manjerekar, Ranjit Fernandez then surely I mute my Television set and enjoy the match. I can’t accept them as cricket commentator.