Derek O’Brien writes: Indian cricket commentary on radio needn’t be mediocre

Millennials and Gen Zs speechmaking this file volition beryllium unfamiliar with the conception of turning connected the vigor to “listen” to a cricket match. It is not their fault. Those of america calved successful The Beatles oregon ABBA years looked distant arsenic “video killed the vigor star”. Imagine the magic of vigor commentary connected the opening time astatine the Optus Stadium, Perth… “and present is Bumrah, close limb implicit the wicket, from the Langer Stand End, to Steve Smith. This 1 pitches extracurricular the disconnected stump, drifting distant from the batsman. Smith shoulders arms.” November 2024.

1922. Australia. The archetypal recorded broadcast of a cricket lucifer was for an accumulation crippled celebrating Charles Bannerman, the antheral who scored the archetypal period successful Test cricket. The Bible of cricket, Wisden, confirms that determination is nary recorded grounds of that broadcast.

India, too, has a affluent bequest of cricket commentary connected radio. Ardeshir Furdorji Sohrabji “Bobby” Talyarkhan is often credited arsenic the pioneer of cricket commentary connected radio. His archetypal stint arsenic a commentator for All India Radio (AIR) dates backmost to 1934, during the Quadrangular tournament, successful a lucifer played successful Mumbai betwixt teams representing the Parsi and Muslim communities. Bobby Talyarkhan was Bobby Talyarkhan! He ne'er shared the microphone with immoderate different commentator. As Ramachandra Guha wrote successful his book, A Corner of a Foreign Field, “His self-control was superhuman, for helium would talk without interruptions (except for luncheon and tea).”

In the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, vigor cricket commentary had immoderate people acts — Berry Sarbadhikari, Pearson Surita, Dicky Rutnagur, Anant Setalvad, Kishore Bhimani, among others. Some of these gentlemen had much than a hint of a British accent, precise pukka, consecutive retired of The Long Room astatine Lord’s. Currently, commentators Sushil Doshi and Sanjay Banerjee successful Hindi, and Sunil Gupta and Prakash Wakankar successful English, are successful a antithetic league.

Done well, vigor commentary tin beryllium conscionable arsenic engaging arsenic 24 frames per 2nd connected television. It involves the listener, makes her usage her imagination, and puts her successful the mediate of the pitch. As Orson Welles said, “Radio is the theatre of the mind”. That is wherefore the BBC’s ‘Test Match Special’ and the ABC’s ‘Grandstand’ person dedicated channels and listenership, including their podcasts. The occurrence of these programmes is chiefly owed to their uncompromising standards of quality. It is important to prosecute top-rung commentators who yet make a long-lasting narration with the listener. John Arlott, Jim Maxwell, Alan McGilvray, Henry Blofeld, and Christopher Martin Jenkins went connected to go a portion of cricketing folklore.

Why is Indian cricket commentary connected vigor present covered successful the particulate of mediocrity? With the objection of 4 oregon 5 commentators, it is simply a droning litany of facts and figures, and thing else. No colour, nary context, nary history, nary banter. This is simply a mislaid opportunity. Consider this: In the archetypal 3 months of 2022, AIR averaged 2 crore listeners per month. The fig of podcast listeners successful India is estimated to beryllium 17 crore. Revenues of Spotify, and audiobooks produced by aggregate companies, are increasing exponentially. There is simply a immense imaginable for AIR to make bully contented and scope larger audiences by producing world-class cricket commentary.

Here are 3 suggestions:

(i) Dedicated channels for each connection are the mode forward. Having the Hindi and English commentators doing the commentary arsenic a brace is the surest mode to termination bully vigor commentary.

(ii) The enactment process of commentators for AIR is an opaque process. To make a excavation of top-notch commentators, it is indispensable to person an impartial and nonrecreational judging process.

(iii) From the AIR sheet of commentators, it is indispensable to prime those who person a thorough knowing of cricket, and the style/vocabulary, to prosecute the listener. There is small usage slotting cricket commentators connected the rule that “every idiosyncratic connected the sheet has to beryllium fixed a chance”, irrespective of their standing by the Audience Research Unit of AIR. This is simply a lacuna which needs to beryllium rectified immediately.

Perhaps the Minister of Railways, who is besides the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, who is besides the Minister of Information and Broadcasting (that deals with the taxable of this column), volition bash each it takes to guarantee that “someone inactive loves you, Radio ga ga”.

P.S. Harsha Bhogle, the dependable of Indian cricket, who started his vocation arsenic a freelance sports writer and vigor commentator told me, “All India Radio opened the doorway for me, but you could not beryllium a full-time nonrecreational connected AIR. I wanted to marque it a profession. My biggest learning erstwhile I started doing BBC/ABC was that we could beryllium arsenic good.” It is clip to name Harsha the skipper of a caller squad whose task it should beryllium to marque Indian vigor cricket commentary world-class.

The writer is MP and leader, All India Trinamool Congress Parliamentary Party (Rajya Sabha). Additional research: Ayashman Dey