Cricket without commentary is a body without soul. All you can see a bat and ball intense contest between 22 players, but commentary makes it spicy, sarcastic and trivial to the fans, making them burst out of laughter. Their megalomaniac words are infectious and keep the audience jammed on their seats.
Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar is one of the premiere commentators in international cricket and has followed Cricket all across the globe. His surreal, improvisational witty word play has kept the Indian masses mesmerized for three decades. His cricket genius is wrapped with a dry sense of humor and doesn’t hesitate mocking the cricketers.
On one instance during a match between India and Australia Bhuvneshwar Kumar was toying with the Australian batting line up, beating them almost every delivery. The performance enthralled Gavaskar in the commentary box that he said
“When Bhuvneshwar makes the ball talk, it talks in Hindi, which the Australians don’t understand”.
Ravi Shastri
Ravi Shastri is unarguably the undisputed king of sarcastic motivational commentary. He might be nasty, but makes sense. His famous punch lines like “race to the fence like a tracer bullet” or “that’s exactly what the doctor ordered “ still plays in every cricket fan mind.
His robust muscular strong words give a spicy substance to the post match presentation. He might be busy with the coaching, but when he speaks the crowd gets their money worth.
After a lot of dilemma and brain storming, this is what we consider his best punch line till date-
“It’s not an idli, it’s not a dosa, it’s not a medu wada, it’s not a rava dosa, it is an Uthappa!”
Kapil Dev
When I hear Kapil Dev giving expert opinion on any cricket show or during commentary, he never looks sure trying to a positive diplomat as if addressing the crowd as a motivational speaker. The common dialogues like they got to have self-belief, respect the game or play positive cricket not only works as an anti-depressant, but makes the fans roll over.
On one incident India was supposed to chase a mammoth total in the second innings against the quality pace attack, he said
“Mushkil to nahi keh sakte tough jaroor hoga India ke liye”.
Arun Lal
Arun Lal may have not earned the reputation of the finest openers in Indian cricket, but when he opens in commentary box, there is no stopping him. His reckless commentary fits perfectly in awkward conditions making the fans laugh out louder. He is accidentally hilarious and has a sound knowledge of cricket; his unorthodox Hindi commentary is among the top trending topics on social media. Millions of memes and jokes are dedicated to Arun Lal fluent Hindi commentary.
It is a known fact that Arun Lal was an admirer of Gautam Gambhir gutsy batting. Being an ex-opener himself, he could connect with boiling emotions during play. Once he said
“Gambhir ke jane se Bharat ki Sthithi aur bhi Gambhir ho gayi hai”.
Navjot Singh Siddhu
The quality which differentiates Navjot Singh Siddhu with rest other commentator is his uniqueness, boldness, a vocabulary and witty sense of humor blended with spirituality. His teasing replies once annoyed Tony Greig leading to his exit from ESPN and Star Sports commentary panel. He was alleged for getting carried away during the commentary.
His famous banter lines include
“You are so unlucky that if you were tossed into a barrel full of nipples, you will come out sucking your thumb”
“The ball went so high that it got a kiss from the air hostess”
“Agar Ajit Agarkar all-rounder hai to mai Aishwarya Rai hu”
“Experience is like a comb that life gives you when you are bald”
“Chakh de phatte, nap de gilli, Subah Jalandhar te sham da Dilli”
“Toofani chakka, Sultani chakka aur Hindustan hakka bakka!”
“Everything coming out of cow is not milk my friend”
“Wickets are wives, you never know when they will turn”.
Rameez Raja
Rameez Raja is a renowned world class commentator and is called to give his expert opinions across the globe, but since his feud with Mohammad Yousuf on a television show in 2015, the cricket crowd trolled him for his double meaning commentary and senseless expert advice.
Once during World Cup 2007, Rameez Raja was commenting on a Zimbabwe batsman, who got hit by Shahid Afridi delivery on unmentionable position. Here is what he said
“The pain is momentary. I can tell you from personal experience. It’s very painful at first, and then it evaporates. The physio is out on the field I wonder what he’s doing to Brent. May be taking a look to make sure everything is ok. Perhaps to check if the cup is well positioned”.
He is often trolled by Pakistan players and fans. His most famous commentary line is when he said
“Hafeez is pushing smoothly. His partner Jamshed is satisfied today”.
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