India is a land where every cricket fan is an expert analyst and most wouldn't like to hear otherwise. Twitter, at the moment, is the congregation of cricket fans with minute-by-minute, ball-by-ball updates and witty, funny, critical comments. Watching the match live at the stadium is an experience, so is watching the match on TV with family and friends offering commentary with the official commentary on mute. Match preview shows with 'expert panelists', in a nation of cricket experts, are another experience, usually bound to be looked at with great interest (and scorn).
Competing with the sports channels and the official broadcast channel of the World Cup for expert preview panels and in-depth post mortem analysts, are our news channels. Times NOW is ever-ready to remind us of their expert panel hosted by Mandira Bedi and Anand Narasimhan featuring Barry Richards, Shane Bond, Graeme Hick, Sanath Jaysuriya, Arun Lal among others. Times Now, of course, took it upon themselves to cheer for Team India with their 'Good Luck India' campaign.
Almost every Indian cricket fan is an expert analyst himself
CNN IBN boasts of having the likes of World Cup winning Pakistani captain Imran Khan, one of the greatest legends of cricket Sir Vivian Richards - 'Kings of Cricket' on their channel to analyze and predict the matches as they unfold. Headlines Today had Sourav Ganguly and Nasser Hussain share their expertise to preview the India-England encounter at Bengaluru. And then there are the usual suspects who offer their take on the World Cup - Harsha Bhogle, Charu Sharma, Navjot Singh Sidhu and the like.
All this, without counting the constant commentary from Rameez Raja, Sanjay Manjrekar, Tony Greig, and the ever-predictable Ravi Shastri etc. This, of course, is just the TV media and its cricket obsession. Online, things are more varied, with general bloggers, dedicated cricket bloggers, retired cricketers on Twitter, almost everyone with a Twitter account and a Facebook account, famous cricket websites like Cricinfo, offering their views on the game.
Expert views abound, fan commentary is rampant and I, for one, cannot imagine cricket without its analysts. I may not appreciate many of their opinions, I might find some retired cricketers-experts annoying, but cricket without its fans and experts who are ever-ready to offer their commentary, is unimaginable. One month of expert analysis of matches, however, might take me to the end of my tether. But here's to every fan enjoying the matches and sharing their views. Cricket is pointless if you cannot have an hour-long discussion of The Curious Case of Overrated Ajit Agarkar or share Yuvraj Singh jokes. Enjoy and may the best team win!
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