The Season of Cricket Experts

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!

Related Links:

Expert Cricket Columns

The People's World Cup

Dial C for Cricket Commentary

Cricket is a funny old game. And that is a clichéd line that almost every cricket commentator has used. When it's a test match we're watching, punctuated with long periods of snail-paced action, it's the commentary that can hold our interest. Witty, incisive commentary, the likes of Ian Chappel, Richie Benaud, Harsha Bhogle and Barry Richards can hold the viewer's interest and even, provide an enjoyable experience. The likes of Ravi Shastri, Laxman Shivaramakrishnan however, tend to be unintentionally hilarious. 

Richie Benaud is considered to be one of the best cricket commentators

Cricket commentators tend to be of two types : the first type is of sports analysts and writers like Harsha Bhogle, Charu Sharma, the tribe that is fast becoming extinct. The second type is the more dominant one - cricket commentators who can be summed up in two words: Retired Cricketers. The problem with cricketers sharing their thoughts about the game, ball-by-ball, is that while they may have played the game well, not many can talk about it well. 

There was a time when people 'watched' cricket matches by listening to legendary cricket commentators on the radio. Now is the time when most people prefer to watch the match on TV with the volume on mute. The predictable phrases and idioms of our commentators and sometimes their bias, irks many a viewer. It would be wrong to trivialise the importance of good commentary and it is also important to acknowledge that excellent commentary on cricket is not as easy a task as it may seem. Dean Jones created a major controversy when he was heard on air calling bearded South African player Hashim Amla a 'terrorist'. As Harsha Bhogle points out:

"You have to assume that the microphone is always on. There will be some network somewhere who will be on live even when there is a break. We have directorial microphones too, so we have to be very careful. Sometimes producers do tell us that it is leaking, be careful. I have made up my mind not to swear even when not on air."

While not controversial, many commentators are a source of parody for their predictable one-liners. The twitter handle Shastribot whose bio reads 'I'm a cool customer and just what the doctor ordered. Twitter, are you ready?' is an amazing, brutally honest parody commentator who replies to any situation, any question with the same, inimitable Shastri dialogues. If overusing a phrase is sufficient to ban it, all tracer bullet references would have been long banned. 

It is very tough to be an excellent cricket commentator just as it is supremely easy to be a bad one. Commentators have that rare opportunity of lending their voice to a historic moment, or echoing the sentiments of a million cricket fans. It's a job that is more than the sum of its clichés.

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About Those Cricket Commentators