A Virat Kohli, Sunil Gavaskar tangle and an Indian cricket reality

Last weekend, before RCB’s home match versus Gujarat Titans, Star Sports presenter Mayanti Langer asked Sunil Gavaskar about Virat Kohli’s different approach to spin in the previous GT-RCB game a few days ago. Gavaskar replied, “Yes very, very refreshing to see that.” He then switched topics to respond to Kohli’s comments after that game.

Among other things in the post-match TV interview, Kohli had said, “All the people who talk about strike rates and me not playing spin well… I am not quite sure if you've been in that situation yourself to sit and speak about the game from a box. People can talk about their own ideas and assumptions of the game, but those who have done it day in (and) day out know what’s happening” and other such words.

Gavaskar said the clip had been shown “half a dozen times” and scolded Star Sports, “For you to show the person belittling your own commentators, I’m not sure that’s a great thing.” He then pointed out that commentators talked about Kohli’s 118 strike rate (51, 43b) versus Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 25.

“But if you have a strike of 118 and then you get out in the 14th or the 15th over with a strike-rate of 118, I mean, if you want applause for that, that's a little bit different... All these guys talk about, oh we don't care about outside noise. Then why are you replying to any outside noise or whatever it is. We all played a bit of cricket, not a lot of cricket. We don't have agendas. We speak about what we see.”

But Kohli said what he said, plus he has a bit of a history against critical comment. Early in his India captaincy he had once said, “Someone who hasn't played for the country has no right to comment on an international cricketer anyway. I don't think that has any kind of logic. You cannot sit there and say how you would have done something differently when you have not been in that situation yourself and don't have the mindset of a cricketer.”

For us print/text media underlings this latest Kohli and SMG back and forth became a bit of a moment. You know, how first they came for the text people and obviously no one spoke up for us, the inconsequential invisibles. Then they came for the comm box, whose biggest names find themselves “belittled”, to use SMG’s words, but social media for the most part showed no support.

The comm box filled with cricketing mega gods doesn’t believe it belongs to the larger entity called the “media”, so who we are and what we say doesn’t matter. Fact is contemporary cricket divas think of comm box superstars as media. They do not treat comm box legends with consideration for their cricketing past but mostly as people with mikes who offend them. That is, simply another form of media which is responded to with either tart and tired “respond to critics” trope or by blocking access to as a means of punishment.

Indian cricket commentary boxes, particularly the English-speaking, have ceded much of their freedom of speech due to contracts with BCCI or with host broadcasters who are bound to BCCI. People in the industry say that there are three layers of freedom of expression in Indian cricket comm boxes. The least freedom of expression is found in bilateral series comm boxes in India. BCCI runs the entire production from logistics to selecting commentators to controlling content. The second layer is ICC events and IPL, where production is contracted to an independent entity which produces the feed and signs up commentators. Who stretch it a bit, even annoy a diva or two, keep but BCCI feelings, future contracts and social media branding in mind. But like during Covid, this layer can also find their status as the game’s opinion makers and thought leaders diluted into a voiceless mush.

The cricket commentators who inhabit the land of the free and home of the brave on Indian cricket airwaves are those in the regional languages which have mushroomed into a diverse vibrancy.

It is how Ambati Rayudu was able to talk so frankly about RCB in a Star Sports Hindi show. “Jab pressure hai, koi bada naam ka batsman koi nahin dikhta hai RBC main – sab young khiladi peeche khelte rehte hain. Aur joh naami khiladi aage jaake joh cream hain na… cake ke oopar cream ….woh kha ke nikalte hain. Aisa team kabhi nahi jeet ti hai, is liye IPL nahin jeete kabhi yeh log itne saalon se.” (When the pressure is on, no big name RCB batsman is seen – it’s the young players who will be found handling the back end of matches. The famous names have gone ahead and eaten up the cream on the game. This kind of team can never win, this is why over so many years they have not won the IPL.)

In English that is an internet-breakable offence-taking opinion.

I was surprised to learn that diva access is not a given even for Indian cricket rights-holding broadcasters; they must knock politely at the gates. Only nine out of ten IPL captains have given TV rights holders interviews this season because, well, go figure.

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