Expert commentators

From Ravikiran Dinakar, India
Richie Benaud. Michael Holding. Geoffrey Boycott. Tony Greig. Ian Chappell. David Gower. Ian Bishop. All of these cricketers have something in common. Apart from the fact that they gave many cricketers sleepless nights (but Geoffrey the great allowed them to sleep through the morning while batting), they all wield the microphone as best as anyone ever did. They know how and when to talk. More importantly, they know when not to talk. And that, I believe is the essence of commentary.

Asians are a different breed of commentators. Most of them, with a few notable exceptions, comment from the heart. The image of Zaheer Khan and Mohammad Kaif scampering through for a single in that far-too-famous-for-its-own-good Natwest Final 326 chase is etched in memory for most of us. And the sounds associated with that image are Ravi Shastri's vociferous and passionate "India have Won!!". Although what followed was an image every Indian would secretly cherish and openly admit to be highly undiplomatic and tactless.

And then there is the non-cricketer Harsha Bhogle. Thank God , he did not play cricket. How else would we have had his layman's sense of observation and admiration for all things cricket, warts and all. His evolution as a commentator is fascinating. He started out as a cricket presenter, merely a mouthpiece and a show-man whose job it was to tell the millions that he had with him experts and then the camera moves on. But now he is an expert in his own right. He epitomizes the expert in every Indian viewer. Flawed, maybe, but we always have an opinion.

There are plenty more - Sanjay Majrekar, as astute and Tendulkar-loving as ever, Sunil Gavaskar, the Santa Claus (Ho Ho Ho! that's a good shot!), Arun Lal, analyzing whether the toe kissed the boundary line only to find to his dismay that the next over has already been bowled (but the man has a hearty laugh about it every time), Ranjit Fernando, he spawned a hate blog, enough said.

Commentary is as much a part of cricket as batting or bowling is(We, Indians, don't ever consider fielding). The joy of watching cricket is accentuated to a great degree by the right words being said about it. In that regard, the Sky Sports commentary team does a wonderful job. With David Lloyd providing the much needed frivolity and eccentricity (If Nathan Astle can bowl, my behind is a fire-engine), Michael Atherton and David Gower going at each other and Nasser Hussain passionately fighting with Michael Holding over switch-hitting, it was all a delight to watch. Let the commentators keep coming.