I am sick,tired & mad of mediocre ex-players(mostly Indian)-turned-commentators

Entertainment Cricket and Other Sports
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Let me start with a gem… “incisive analysis” by Yashpal Sharma (former India player) on TV (not in this World Cup) :
After Australia won the toss and elected to bat against India :
“Australia ki team chahegi ki jyaada se jyaada run banaye aur Bharat ki team koshish karegi ki Australia ko kum-se-kum score par restrict kare”.
I hope Yashpal Bhaiya got his cheque from the TV channel for letting the viewers know this secret insider information.

What is this deal with TV channels in India employing every tom, dick and harry who played international cricket as commentators/analysts… I don’t get it…

[When I see the current Indian team , I see 11 future TV commentators (and that includes Harbhajan Singh !!).]

Robin Singh, Nikhil Chopra, Madan Lal, Ajay Jadeja, Arun Lal, Navjot Sidhu, Saba Karim, Laxman Sivaramkrishanan, Srikkanth, Venkatesh Prasad, Zaheer Abbas, Anshuman Gaekwad, Ranatunga, Mahanama, Shastri…and the list goes on… infact everyday I discover a new ex-player giving his “brilliant analysis” of the game in this WorldCup…

Barring a few, most of these guys were exrtremely mediocre players when they played International cricket and it is funny when they tell us how so-and-so player should or shouldn’t play… some of them are neither coherent nor articulate in their speech delivery and some like Madan Lal cannot speak two consecutive “grammatically correct” sentences (in Hindi or English).

But the person who makes me lunge for the remote is Mandira Bedi… this lady is DUMB, DUMB , DUMB… someone kick her out of the analysts panel in EXTRA INNINGS on STAR… my dog can better summarize a cricket game than her… besides I would rather see my dog’s battisi…and she doesn’t even look embarrased in the imposing presence of Tony Greg alongside…
While on the subject, the West Indian lady commentator - Symmonds(I forget her first name) should be the pride of all the cricket loving ladies… here is someone who knows her cricket…

Coming back to the subject, I just want to know the criterion(if there is any) on which an ex-cricketer is selected for the commentary box.

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The criteria seems to be the old boy network. i agree many of these guys are an embarrasment including Aamir Sohail. His comments make you run for cover as well.

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My question is why don't they hire really professionals for the job, the people who actually went to college and received a degree in that field.

But then again its only desi commentators barring very few who such so bad.

Guys like Tony Greig, Richie Benaud, are all ex players but they are also good.

But really we need to get guys like Manjrekar and Sohail off the booths, Manjrekar is embarassing all the desis around the world with his pure "Apu" accent from the simpson.

But you have guys like Ramiz Raja and Gavaskar who speak very good English.

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My new favorites:

Dean Jones
Mike Haysman

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I can't stand Aamir Sohail. His comments are always agaisnt Pakistan.

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Re: I am sick,tired & mad of mediocre ex-players(mostly Indian)-turned-commentators

:nono:
mandira bedi is the saving grace in the doghouse. none of the commentators r competent to engage the viewers or more than a few seconds. one can atleast watch mandira’s beautiful smile. :smiley:
and she does not try to add too many expert opinions like the one and only ruby bhatia. ruby bhatia was outrageous :mad: another one of the dumbo bimbos, maria goretti asked sangakkara “have u been rejected by any girl?”. that too about 1 hour before the ICC Chanpion’s trophy finals. :hehe:

but i surely miss geoffrey boycs. sad that he is still not well enough for a comeback. :frowning:

Munna.

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**one of the worst comments said in this cup has to be ravi shastris…
he said “Saqlain Mushtaq, hes a great bowler, great technical player, and he can spin the ball aswell!”

i mean, OF COURSE he can spin the ball you muppet! hes an off break bowler after all! if he couldn’t spin it, he’d be a slow bowler!

stupidity at its highest! :rolleyes: **

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I agree most if not all are mediocre cricketers and even worse as commentators. Gavaskar was a batsman you could enjoy sometimes and so is his commentary. For some reason we can't get decent ones. Ravi Shastri is the worst I've heard though.

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cummon dude ! Shastri is much better than manjrekar, sohail and rameez. He knows his stuff well and he knows how to control emotions and his accent is also decent, unlike desi accents of manjrekar and sohail.

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Gavaskar and Imran Khan, simply the best cricketer turned commentators ever.
Okay Tony Grieg was a cricketer but he wasn't great.

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by The_Indian_teen: *
cummon dude ! Shastri is much better than manjrekar, sohail and rameez. He knows his stuff well and he knows how to control emotions and his accent is also decent, unlike desi accents of manjrekar and sohail.
[/QUOTE]

I haven't heard any of the guys you mention ...Ravi Shastri I have and I found him really irritating

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well that was a comparison and if ya compare these guys , shastri is the best of the lot among desis :slight_smile: gavaskar is also good and I still dunno if Imran does some commentry :rolleyes: Well but he might be good , as he’s oxford alumni and a great cricketer too.

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Than you didn't watch WC 99, Imran was a regular commentator and was in Pakistan's every match.