Those golden voices!

It is ironical- Cricket is such a visual game, yet there was a time when we enjoyed it through an aural medium.  Till the late 1970s, video footage was a rarity and live telecast was non-existent. Enthusiasts across the globe followed Cricket commentary over the radio. The pleasure was indescribable- as though listening to lilting music or lines of sublime poetry!

The Cricket gene runs in the family. In those animated conversations with my father, two yesteryear Indian commentators stood out- “Vizzy” and Pearson Surita. Surita’s accented style of narration was the stuff for mimicry! And then came the battery of broadcasters we grew up with- Anant Setalwad, Dicky Ratnagur and Narottam Puri.  And in Hindi, there was the ever-effervescent Sushil Doshi!

India’s famed spin quartet- Bedi and Chandra, Prasanna and Venkat, spun a web of mystery around batsmen. Their mystique reached the masses through these master wordsmiths who transported you to the Cricket field. The mind’s eye conjured up the entire scene and the brewing excitement. You “watched” Chandra rolling up his sleeves, ambling in from his longish run-up and bamboozling the batsman!

If the shortwave radio sprang to life at midnight, it meant India was playing in the West Indies. Roberts and Holding, Garner and Marshall invaded our living room. Tony Cozier was a constant companion.  In his characteristic Caribbean accent, he sketched the survival story of many a hapless batsman, struggling against these fearsome bowlers.

Monsoon in India coincided with the Test Matches in England. Over those rainy evenings, we crouched  around the radio to listen the trio- John Arlott, Brian Johnson and Christopher Martin-Jenkins. They held us in their mesmeric spell, ball after ball, for 5 days of riveting Cricket.

When India toured Australia, we shook off the morning drowsiness listening to Alan McGilvray’s signature phrase- “Here is Lillee!” Invariably, India was 3 down by the time we woke up and battled with its back to the wall!

The 1978 series against Pakistan was iconic. There was an extra delight to hear about Gavaskar’s class and Vishwanath’s wizardry from Pakistan’s legendary commentators- Omar Qureshi and Iftikhar Ahmed. 

We never saw these commentators. We do not know how they looked. Their identity was just their voice. Today, Cricket is telecast live and available as a visual medium. Oddly, we miss the rosy romance of its earlier audio avatar!

The Cricket fraternity is unique- it follows the game across the globe, crossing national boundaries. Borrowing the words of Shakespeare, the Cricket fan asserts, “It’s not that I love my country less, it’s just that I love Cricket more!” Win or lose, the catchphrase stays the same- “Ultimately, Cricket is the winner!”