Aug 11, 2005 03:28 PM
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(Updated Aug 11, 2005 03:28 PM)
MS had a review on “Five Worst Commentators” and me being an out and out positive minded guy thought of writing a review on the “Five Best Commentators”.
I sincerely believe Commentating is an art which is very easy to start with but very very tough to perfect. There are so many commentators doing the rounds today both Indian and International but only few have a class of their own. I have thought of this list after a lot of serious thinking.
So here it goes…the list is in the order of my liking…
Bill Lawry.: For me he is the King of Cricket commentary and nobody can beat at least till the time he is alive. He normally does commentary on Channel Nine on the Australian Network and we only get to hear him during the VB One-Day Series and the Test Series every year that takes place in Australia. His few lines are just legendary for e.g. “It’s a ripper!!!”. and “Here it goes for a maximum”.. I mean the way he gets excited on a beautiful wicket; a smashing shot or an unbelievable catch is magnificent. He was also a legend in his playing days so that is the reason he has got an excellent knowledge of the game as a whole. It’s a pity that he does commentary only in Australia.
Sunil Gavaskar.: No need to mention his Cricket achievements, I would go straight to his commentary prowess. He is so soft, smooth and collecting when he does his job but whenever our dear Sachin hits a beauty he gets excited and would chant a Marathi term to describe the Magic, I remember once he was asked how do he rate Sachin and his answer is etched in my memory “Tremendous, magnificent, terrific, finally he said infact WORDS FAIL ME.. I love the way he fights with Ian Chappell and Tony Greg on some very interesting issues.
Tony Cozier.: He is in my list due to the sheer wealth of knowledge he possesses on Cricket. He knows all the old players, new players, umpires, Cricket Grounds and culture of every country. He has got an extremely brilliant eye for detail and his knowledge on West Indies is out of this world. He knows from where the rain would come in every West Indian Ground, okay his voice is a bit hoarse but he makes sense in whatever he says and whenever the time comes he do not hesitates in being sarcastic and ironical.
Ian Chappell.: The second Australian in my list and another brilliant commentator, Another advantage being apart from Australia he is also on the Ten Sports Team we get to hear him more than Bill Lawry or Richie Benaud. His only negative point between he always cites Australian Examples to cite Cricketing brilliance apart from that he is just about flawless. His voice modulation is amazing and knows when to get excited and when to control an emotion that is the basic art of Commentating.
Navjot Singh Sidhu.: I am sure you are ready with your swords to hit me but I still believe he is one good commentator but still has a long way to go. He brings excitement to the art of commentating that was missing for quite a long time. It is right that he recites some of his pet lines but still it also needs an effort which he takes. It is sad he is no more on the ESPN-Star Team but still we get to listen him on NDTV doing his histrionics on a couple of Talk-Shows. Maybe he would mellow down and allow others to speak as well and would be in list of legendary commentators in the years of come.
So this was my list of “Five Best Commentators”, I know some of you would agree and some of you won’t but that is the way it is, please feel free to air your thoughts in the comments section and I would reply to each one of you.
Hope this review made sense.
