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Agatha Christie’s novels have a plot, drama, suspense, emotion and a brilliant climax. These traits help get a reader engrossed and make sure that the final destination of the novel is reached with utmost of imagination attached.
Cricket commentary is not on parallel terms with the above.
With a microphone in hand, you are the person who is trying to dictate what is happening viewers who are already watching live pictures of the game.
It’s a challenging task that requires a lot of skill to be executed well. It involves a lot of impromptu innovation and an excellent command over the language to make sure that the viewers remain glued to the game.
Well, the latter is not a necessity anymore, at least in the short forms of the game.
Commentating in Test match cricket is all about story telling. It should be like describing the view of river flowing.
It is unhurried in the approach and lot of tales about the game can be easily dwelled upon while not much is happening on the ground.
ODIs are like beam balance between precision and innovation.
T20s are all about how direct you are to the viewer because of the constraint of time. The above pointers have no value attached in the current scenario as the quality of cricket commentary is deteriorating fast.
The essential ingredients like language, clarity of thoughts, flow of the words according to the situation and questioning have all taken a back seat in cricket commentary.
Today, people are voicing their opinion because of the repute they have been carrying in the cricketing circles.
Some of them are filled with clichés while some believe that having fun is more important than stating what’s happening out in the middle.
There is a certain sense of detachment when, say, a Kapil Dev takes over the microphone and talks about swing bowling when a cover drive has just taken place for a boundary.
His clarity as well as his fluency with the language is a barrier for the viewer but still he has been given an elongated run until now.
When Ravi Shastri is on air and a certain event has taken place, the whole of India and most of the cricket playing nations know what’s coming next. A four will have a statement, “that went like a tracer bullet” or the start of second innings will have, “the first 15 overs are crucial for the batting side”.
These commentators are working purely the basis of their reputations as cricketers of the past.
Talking of past players and commentary; you can’t leave Sunil Gavaskar away. When he started doing commentary, he had some views that made sense as he talked about different aspects of the game that a viewer wants to know.
Though, of late he has become a student who is irregularly attending his classes.
In some moments, he would produce fantastic observations and after some time a howler of sorts would take place.
Channel 9’s commentary panel, which includes Ian Healy and Mark Taylor, has been a real disappointment to the art of commentary as well.
The bias towards Australian cricket is pretty evident when they present the game and a macro view is completely lost.
The Pakistani commentary isn’t much different. Wasim Akram was an artist of swing bowling but has not captured the art of commentary until now.
Radio was the place where the brilliance of a commentator was captured as he pulled people to the game with his voice and made sure that they remain engrossed until the end.
Sadly, radio has slowly started to fade away and cricket commentary looks weaker with each second. Maybe, it is because of the commercial advertisements that playing a huge role in every broadcast.
Harsha Bhogle and Tony Cozier remain the people in the arena who haven’t played international cricket but still capture the charm of most viewers. It is their simplicity and communication skills that work for everyone.
Rahul Dravid was a breath of fresh air when he took over the commentary box and Sourav Ganguly brings out traits of leadership on air that not many have seen before.
Naseer Hussain, when not delivering views on England cricket, is a person you would want to hear and so is the case with Michael Holding. Ian Chappel is surely one who still manages to make some sense when he is presenting the game with India involved.
It is time that some past players are shown the door. It is time the fading art of cricket commentary be brought back to life.
It is time that a new Tony Cozier sets foot in the cricketing world. The doors have been shut for a non-playing cricketer to enter the commentary panel and hence, today the art is flagging.
Cricket for cricketers is good, but cricket by cricketers is never a good option.
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