Cricket Shastra

No, I am not talking about Ishant Sharma. Granted that he is without a doubt a very promising fast bowler, but I am talking about the “Find of the Series” in context of the TV viewers – namely us. I am talking about the commentator – Michael Slater.

If the matches are being telecast on DD, generally I watch the match on mute preferring not to listen to the pathetic Hindi commentary. But Star, ESPN do have an amazing army of commentators with Harsha Bhogle in command. When Harsha Bhogle is the one on mike, sometimes the comments get more interesting than the actual cricket being played. Another favourite is Michael Holding dead-panning the one-liners. This tour of Australia has unearthed Michael Slater – with his amazing wit, and his recounts of the recent events concerning the current players, he is on the way to become my favourite commentator.

His observations on the cricket are amazing, but better than that is his ever present sense of humour. Yesterday during the first match of the CB series, Sachin had just pulled a ball for three and Michael Slater gave an analysis of why it was a very difficult shot to play considering that SRT is short. I don’t remember exactly how but his conversation with Gavaskar veered from the technique of a short guy to the hair styles of Dhoni and Bracken, and somehow relating both of them – the hair and the technique of the short batsmen. Whenever Slater is paired with Harsha Bhogle, you are in for a treat.

I was never a fan of Michal Slater – the batsman, but I have become an ardent fan of Michael Slater – the commentator.