Behind the Mike

The first time i saw a live cricket match was the memorable quarter final between India and Pakistan in Bangalore in 1996. In spite of the vociferous crowd what caught my attention was the deafening silence in the middle, sans the commentary i was used to while watching on the television. The players seemed to be in their own world doing their own thing and the voices i was used to were missing. No voice to enthuse me when a wicket fell or a boundary was hit, no voice to tell me the excitement that wrapped the stadium. It was then that i truly understood the role of the voice behind the mike.

Cricket more than any other sport is played between silences. A canny silence creeps between a bowler's deliveries, in between overs, in between wickets. So it presents a commentator with a good opportunity to fill in these silences with descriptions of the goings on, anecdotes of bygone days or plain old banter. For an avid viewer of the game its simply fascinating. Before the advent of the IPL which reduced commentary to buffoonery and made sane looking commentators into cheap salesmen it was and sometimes is a serious business.

Me and others of my generation in India have not been exposed to radio commentary which was and still is popular in England and Australia. Hence I sometimes regret missing out on radio as its a different and more engaging medium than television. However the flip side of being in India is that you get to witness cricket and hence television commentators from around the world.

I always thought that the Australian Channel Nine commentary crew was a benchmark in terms of bringing cricket to the television viewer. Maybe its the impact of the Kerry Packer era or the fact that Cricket is always facing stiff competition from rival sports or plain old Aussie stubbornness to succeed they have managed to be the best commentary team in the world for a long time. Two of my favourite commentators of all time are present there - Richie Benaud and Bill Lawry. Benaud is most economical in his words in an increasingly verbose profession and always seems to have the right word for the occasion. Bill Lawry on the other hand - unlike his dour batting in the 60s - is very excitable and brings a sense of occasion every time he's on air. In fact the best piece of commentary i ever heard was delivered by him along with Mike Procter in the memorable climax of the tied semifinals between Australia and South Africa in the 1999 world cup .

The English Sky Sports team over the past decade have made huge improvements. They have moved away from the dry English commentary of the past and have infused excitement. With new faces likes David Lloyd, Michael Holding and Nasser Hussein they have turned the corner and are more entertaining than ever before. Sample this years Ashes for a sneak into the Sky sports team.

The Indian Commentary scene has also come up in the past decade with the emergence of India as a true global power with a billion eyes. Like everywhere it has been dominated by former players like Sunil Gavaskar , Ravi Shastri et al. Ironically the best Indian commentator is a non-cricketer : Harsha Bhogle. He brings a certain artistic touch to commentary and is a great user of words. It was very disappointing though to see him fooling around in the IPL all for the sake of money. Anyway that does not make him any less a commentator. The most promising voice over the past few years has been Sanjay Manjrekar. He has real potential and has joined the ESPN-Star Team recently. He is one to look out for in the coming days.

Apart from commentators from these three major countries there others whom i like. Tony Cozier of Barbados is one that comes to mind instantly. He is almost Benaud-like in his commentary and seems to be around forever and is a true representative of West Indian Cricket. Ian Smith and Jeremy Conney from New Zealand are quiet good on occasions. The South Africans Mike Proctor and Robin Jackman are good too.

However in an era where cricket has become a 'product' and the fans 'consumers' and commentators forced to belt out 'Citi moments of success' and 'DLF Maximums' I don't know how far cricket commentary will be affected by rabid commercialization. For the sake of sanity lets hope Cricket commentary will remain as it has always been and enthrall fans the world over.