Indian cricket has come a very long way in my lifetime. At the end of the recently concluded Cricket World Cup, Indian fans were disappointed that India lost in the semi-finals, but about forty years ago, they would have been quite happy with India winning even one of their league matches in a World Cup. Providing a backdrop to this transition was the big change in mode of coverage from radio to television.
As a person well into his sixties and also an avid cricket fan, I have moved along with this transition and have hardly heard cricket commentary over the radio for perhaps twenty five years. A news item about a week ago caught my eye. It was about the demise of Anant Setalvad, one of the doyens of Indian radio commentary and set me trying to recall the names behind the voices which provided me this entertainment during my childhood and early adulthood.
Among Indian commentators, the earliest voice I heard perhaps was that of the Maharajkumar of Vizianagram, known popularly as Vizzy. His booming voice would recount innumerable tales, often showing himself in a positive light. Since he was from a royal family, perhaps, the other commentators would not point out that the game in progress was not being covered. Vizzy is of course notorious in Indian cricket lore for sending Lala Amarnath back controversially for 'indiscipline' from one of India's first tours to England in 1936. That was the era where the neighbourhood kids' policy of 'I own the bat, only I'll play' was in effect. Vizzy was one of a few Maharajas who bankrolled the Indian team in that era and expected to play in the team, irrespective of ability or skill!
Lala Amarnath himself became a pretty ubiquitous radio expert later, though occasionally his love for his two sons who also played for India overrode his estimation of their ability vis-a-vis India's other stalwarts ! The Lala had for company in the expert's chair two greats of Indian cricket - Vijay Merchant and Polly Umrigar. The first was very articulate and the second a bit measured in his remarks - but both were at the top when it came to cricket knowledge.
These experts complemented the efforts at various times of names such as the booming tones of Pearson Surita, Anant Setalvad of the silky baritone, the cricket administrator Raj Singh Dungarpur, the slightly verbose Suresh Saraiyya, the taciturn Berry Sarbhadikari - who unfortunately committed suicide in the '70s - and the Chennai trio of another man with a lovely voice,V M Chakrapani, Balu Alaganan and the hotelier Ananda Rao with his elaborate descriptions in a slightly nasal drawl. Hindi commentary during this era was generally in the hands of Ravi Chaturvedi and Susheel Doshi, the latter's description of a boundary (aur yeh chaaar run!) still ringing in my ears.
V M Chakrapani migrated to Australia and became part of the ABC cricket commentary team too, joining people like Alan McGilvray of the fruity voice and Lindsay Hassett. Radio commentary of matches played abroad was a bit of a lottery because of the then level of technology. The result was frequent interruptions in transmission. The time differences also ensured that one, being a schoolboy in a disciplined household was not allowed to hear too much commentary at odd hours. I hardly remember the names of any West Indian commentators for instance - Tony Cozier whom I followed a lot on television later was possibly one such. In the BBC Test Match team, the names of John Arlott, Brian Johnston and Henry Blofeld stand out - Arlott for his almost poetic descriptions and the other two for their commentary laced with almost quirky obsessions with chocolate cake and ladies' earrings ! The critical expert, Trevor Bailey. who hardly had a good word for any non-English player also comes to mind.
Unfortunately many of these stalwarts could not successfully make the transition from radio to television. The elaborate descriptions needed in the former were irrelevant in the visual medium and could even be an irritant. This has led to another crop of commentators more attuned to the needs of today's cricket followers and contemporary technology.
Maybe because I cut my teeth on radio commentary, I still miss it. Even after I had started working, I would carry a pocket transistor to work, keeping it in the top drawer of my desk, with the shelf slightly ajar. In the last phase of my career, of course, the open page of the Cricinfo website served the same purpose !
*****
No comments:
Post a Comment