The first thing that comes to my mind was that Chennai innings years ago. Of course, I wasn’t around at that time but have heard stories from my father. He overcame the dehydration, the sun, the physical strength but most importantly, the inner demons that day. I haven’t seen most of his games. With the limited amount of videos available now and the things others wrote about him, he probably should have been the best player, especially, in the white-ball cricket those days.
When I begin to follow cricket, he was the commentator for most of the games. He had this knack of sharing insights with humour. He was always glad to see new talents, read and talk about them. He gave back so much to the game and for the viewers. He was always ready to share his knowledge to literally everyone. He didn’t care who you are and what you do. If you have doubts about the game, he was ready to talk to you and clear your genuine doubts.
Even if someone said that they don’t like him, he would still appreciate them for having an opinion. He travelled to the places which many were afraid to. He was able to unearth talents and point them out. Pakistan. Afghanistan. Sri Lanka. TNPL. Australia, of course. You name it. The love for the sport and his sheer energy stood out every time. You can see him get excited for every good shot that was played and he would get equally animated if someone threw their wicket away. Even after the years, cricket was everything to him and he did his job with utmost clarity.
Except for one comment in 2006, I have always looked up to him when it comes to the knowledge on the game. Go well, sir.
Virat Kohli finally reacts to Farokh Engineer’s rant about Anushka Sharma