The plunge of Indian English cricket broadcasting

As Indian men’s Test cricket enters one of its storied phases under Virat Kohli’s captaincy, one wonders about the role of our cricket commentators. What is their commentating cred? On air, why are the Indian English commentators pandering to jingoism and cheerleading Indian cricketers ad nauseam? True, India have fought when under the pump and there is much to celebrate, but where should a cricket commentator’s loyalties lie – with the art and craft of the sport or with satisfying ‘nationalist’ urges?

In the ongoing Test series, Indian English cricket commentary has plunged in quality, and certainly in the live, post- and pre-match day conversations and analyses. Some of our iconic cricket moments have generally been captured with the comical brio of Ravi Shastri behind the mic. To some degree, that characteristic appears to have remained as a residue in commentary mentality. There’s been a lot of ridiculing of Gavaskar, Bhogle, Manjrekar online.

Whenever I got a snatch of a Test day’s proceedings, I invariably hit the mute button on the TV remote when the said gents came on. Their collective thoughts and the general programming were gushing and hyperbolic even when things got dull or when India played badly. There were moments of unintended irony.

In the third Test at Headingley, India was bowled out for 78 on day one. They gave away a big lead and then pulled things back somewhat on day three when England were ordinary, and India batted better to get to 215/3. England was due to take the new ball, which it did, but ‘bad light’ was called and the Indian batters took the challenge to day four. India was still in a fragile spot. But our commentators that evening babbled as if India had made a comeback, as if they were finally batting to their potential, as if the match was as good as being in the bag. The next day, India were blown away in the first hour. One of them intoned, “the castle that India’s batting so painstakingly built is crumbling in front of their eyes”. Really? Was a day’s decent batting worthy of being called a “castle”?

But a word about the overall viewing experience, too. There were breaks with asinine car ads, stubbled buff men pitching deo sprays, or tongue-in-cheek ads with former India bowlers likened to OGs. I grew up scarred with the thrashings the said OGs got in the 1990s and 2000s. One of them had a slower ball that bounced more than his bouncer; another may have had nightmares bowling against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Such ads aim to show to T-20-loving younger Indians that we were world-beaters in the past.

When it rained or at session breaks or when India lost with a day to spare, TV beamed old games that India won in England or elsewhere, lending an overall impression of Indian supremacy. Truth is, even struggling Pakistan has had a better Test record in England over the last many years. The intent to be pro-India makes channel producers ignore the fuller picture of the past.

The commentary is interspersed with feed from Sky Sports. You listen to Holding, Hussain, Warne, Atherton, and you know you are in the presence of superb interpreters and conversation stylists. They are invariably trying to read the game from many sides and dimensions. Their commitment is to the art and the craft of the game; not just one nation or a bunch of players.

Indian TV commentators once spoke their minds. Have at least two of them softened? In my view, a reason for this may be the impact of the man who is now the coach of the Indian team. If he was your biggest notable in the commentary box, what models to follow? The on-air fracas between him and Nasser Hussain in the 2011 India tour to England, which India lost badly, showed the divide: the independence of one and the pro-team bias of the other.

One can also see that this sort of commentating environment can make one of the greats of the game write about Black Lives Matter and the role of sport and take up larger questions surrounding some of the serious issues in global society and international sport. Michael Holding has opened a powerful avenue for discussions that need to take place in the sport. It’s a credit, too, to Sky Sports. India is the powerhouse of the sport. But those on TV abroad appear to be more committed to how the game is viewed and understood.