CRICKET COMMENTARY

CRICKET COMMENTARY

Well, youngsters might feel ‘does it need a write-up?’ The present population of Indian youth is born in an era of communication technology where, visuals take precedence over ‘verbal’ or Audio reportage. But, in 1960s and till late 1980s India’s TV network was rather confined to metro cities. Most other areas were not served by TV. That too telecast in colour had to wait till 1987 or so; to-day all telecast is only in colour. So, it calls for a preamble as to how our earlier generations carried on in the absence of TV , mobile phones, Android devices, Bluetooth link and so on. Yet life never ground to a halt. It went on in its usual pattern though with ‘lesser facility’. If cell phones drop dead for an hour, people get panicky and paranoid as if everyone is in isolated quarantine.

Radio Commentary

Radio was the lone device to provide ‘information’ of social/ political / sports value besides reporting on weather. Radios were not frequent either. They were in a few homes and were accessible only during ‘some part of the day’.  To use home radio was a ‘violation of code of conduct ‘by boys and girls. If ever used, it was by breach of regulation when the head of the family was away to office or some other work. Any attempt to get clearance for use of radio was bound to be turned down with an emphatic ‘NO’ besides arranging for surveillance by other elders at home. So, it was easier to adhere to violation. 9/10 listening to commentary was by sneak and maintaining a low volume- not to draw attention. What was worse was, not everyone can listen to radio commentary ; only those blessed with friends with Radio houses can manage to ‘enter’ friend’s house on some pretext of borrowing book or note for completing the home assignments of the day. With so much ‘conditions’ to abide by , if at all we manage to ‘open’ the radio, we should also know where to ‘tune in’ to pick up the radio commentary. After some random search, commentary would come through at one or two stations.

By then some six or seven overs would have been completed with ‘no hints as to which side started batting first’.  Let it be so; in those days often we have heard …. ‘and he is out’. Like thieves, we used to gaze at one another to decipher ‘who is out? The voice says “India are 1 for one. Just now an out-swinger  from Hall wrought havoc, with Roy offering a tentative prod; taking outer edge, the ball flew up and  Wicket keeper Alexander popping up like a spring brought off a brilliant ‘high catch’ to dismiss Roy”. For us, Alexander was a ‘WICKED keeper’. ‘The new man in is Polly Umrigar taking guard from umpire Vijayasarathy’. If Umrigar was taking guard, we were unguarded ‘not knowing the arrival of the new man in [the head of the family]. He silently grabs a boy by his earlobe and lifts him like a rabbit; the boy screaming in pain makes all else run into hideouts like rats and silence would descend –as the radio is switched off already. The trapped victim receives a couple of thrashes [injury] and faces the most inconvenient poser ‘what was your score in Mathematics [insult].He prefers to blink as any reply would invite further embarrassment. That was the raw deal meted out to children. No fellow bothered and we would wait for the ‘head’ to move out for us to gain access to commentary. In the evenings well over 30-40 minute stretches of commentary was possible as the ‘head’ would be more relaxed in getting back home.  Elders in our group used to lament ‘the match is in Calcutta [it was not Kolkata then]where Sun would dip early in the evening around 4-30-4-40 pm. The ‘head’ is cool in planning for evening’s outing. If he leaves by 4-30, very little time can be availed of. Suddenly, the ‘head’ is all set to leave and there is eerie silence and polite delight. If visibly delighted ‘head’ may drop his outing schedule and jeopardize our interest. Boys do not express delight or despair. Yet, ‘head’ issues a dynamic warning “if any fellow touches the radio, all of you would be thrashed”. Some boys make ‘faces’ at that and wait for head to step on to the road; once he has ‘stepped out’ radio is opened to hear ‘India are 133 for 7 and there could be 1 more over before stumps’.  ‘Griffith tossing the ball from right to left and back as he walks to the top of his ‘run-up’ and moves in hectic fashion to deliver a high rise delivery. Batsman Sardesai cites lengthening of shadows on the pitch and calls for stoppage of play for the day. Umpire V sarathy and Sampuran Banerjee accede and it is draw of stumps’.

Just for listening to events under less than an over, boys hang around the radio hoping against hopes that ‘head’ would stay off for a while. But Calcutta does not care and the game ends 7-8 minutes ahead due to bad light. No fellow among the radio listeners can recognize any player from appearance; but visualizing a match by listening to descriptive phraseology was quite a rewarding experience. Definitely, it helped our senses of mental portrayal from a description, very close to mentally deciphering a mathematical proposition. With visual telecast in place, the ability to ‘conceive’ a scenario turns uncomfortable if not impossible.

Prof. K. Raman