Some really nice experienced posters here. Liked Bill Lawry's commentary. Another of his stock expressions, "Gone for it" during the slog overs. Tony was a bit of over dose all the time and except for his Sachin Tendulkar wants to win the match for India episode in 98 Sharjah, never liked his commentary. Ravi is cliched to the core and am surprised he pulled it off for these many years. Sunny at least has got the experience to narrate some interesting anecdotes and is quite witty some times. For me the most insightful commentator is always going to be Ian Chappel. No one observes the intricate points that he does. Harsha B was always an excellent expressor of the events in layman's delightful terminology. Like the distance between the fielder and ball will always increase as it picks up pace, to a VVS Laxman's Cover Drive in 2003-4 Australian Series. Geoff Boycott was at his best when India tour West Indies in 1996. He was sublime. Manjrekar is apologetic cynic and I hate it when he compares himself with Rahul Dravid. Would have liked Channel Nines coverage than these guys here though Tom Moody is a mini Ian CHappel with voice and accent at least, have not heard him enough to see how he commentates.
Folks-
I was wondering why Harsha & Sunil weren't around on espnstar broadcast, so I googled Harsha espn, and then stumbled upon this thread. I'm so glad I did, now I get to talk to "like-minded" people.
😱)
First things first, let me first thank you all for your delightful comments, I thoroughly enjoyed them.
I'm watching this broadcast from willowtv, as there is no other way for us here to access Indian sports channel broadcasts ( at HD quality).
😱) Anyway, I was quite disappointed in ESPN broadcast not to have Sunny on, and to a certain extent Harsha...but Jason is not doing a bad job filling in for Harsha. I have been a fan of Gavaskar's commentary ever since he first started, I like his direct no nonsense approach to commentary, doesn't mince words, not to mention pro India bias...lol...(I have met him and got his autograph last year in June @ Sabina Park commentary box...he is surely a midget..lol)
Ravi Shastri can retire..there is nothing that is more boring & frustrating than listening to Mr.Shastri using the same cliched terms "Craker Jacker of a match..." "Rocking back on back foot.." etc etc....
Saurav is not as bad, but it seems to me that he is pissed off with someone at BCCI or with someone in the team itself. I understand that he is a commentator and he can criticize players about how they play, but he is over doing it, I mean it is a very tough to listen to say the least. For example, he was criticizing Gambhir for getting dismissed poking at the ball outside off stump, and with an angled bat, but tell me, how many times haven't we seen Mr.Ganguly do the same? He was complaining of others footwork and that they shouldn't be in the team and such...it is all true, but Mr.Ganguly, has to at least acknowledge that he was guilty of the same offenses when he used to play.
We all know that Saurav's footwork is not the greatest, if it weren't for his offside play, he wouldn't have even survived in the team for as long as he did.
Wasim and Tom are tolerable.
Ian is pretty damn good, I like his style of commentary, it is not monotonous like Mr.Shastri's. Love the way he describes VVS's batting, in 2004 when VVS scored 3 centuries in a week, he used this line..."He is in some sort of form this bloke..."
Moving on to Channel 9s team, Ritchie, he is probably the greatest commentator of all time, sad that he had to retire.
Bill lawry can get loud, you guys should listen to his commentary on Youtube, for "THAT" match between SA vs AUS in 1999 world cup, you coudl just hear him literally scream off the top of his lungs...Gosh it was horrible to listen...never really thought he unbiased.....
I pretty much like all the others on Channel 9.
Sorry about the long post, &
THanks to folks that pointed out that Tune-in had ABC feed, I never noticed it, only listen to
music on it here while working out.
Here are my thoughts