 "Hectic, but so much fun: Ex-India captain Anjum Chopra on life as an IPL commentator")
“That’s out of here – and into the stratosphere”
“A peach of a delivery – beat the batter all ends up”
“Oh! What has he done? Is that the match dropped right there?”
“In comes the impact player – how big an impact is he going to have tonight?”
Sound familiar? You would have heard statements like these a million times if you are a die-hard Indian Premier League fan. Every night (and sometimes in the afternoons), for 65 days, a group of commentators, taking turns sitting in a box, commentate on or “call” the IPL games.
The host broadcaster, according to some reports, has a roster of about 170 experts for this edition of the IPL, calling games in English – for the world feed and a number of vernacular languages like Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Kannada, Marathi, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Haryanvi, Malayalam, Telugu, Punjabi, etc.
According to the CEO of the host broadcaster, there are as many as “25 concurrent feeds” that are seeking to engage more than 100 Crore viewers. In an interview with Sportstar, Sanjog Gupta, the CEO-Sports at JioStar said – “What started as a language foray in 2013 with the addition of Hindi, today is no longer just a language foray. It’s a language, region/culture, demographic, and to some extent, consumption-based reconstitution of what the broadcast experience used to look like.”
In other words, the commentary universe in the IPL, like many other facets of the tournament, is also continuing to expand manifold.
The commentators’ main job is to articulate the proceedings, such that everyone – including lay people, who might not know the technicalities or intricacies of the sport of cricket – can understand, follow and enjoy every single IPL match. The commentators, who are mostly former cricketers, do this by bringing to the table their own experience and expertise of the game, as they analyse every delivery and the action that follows on the field. Over the years, many IPL commentators, many of whom also call international matches on a regular basis, have also become household names – much like the cricketers who create magic on the playing field, night after night.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsBut have you ever wondered what keeps this humongous machinery of IPL commentary running like a well-oiled machine? Or what a day or week in an IPL commentator’s life looks like?
If yes, then this story is for you.
Like you, I have also wondered for a long time about what exactly goes on behind the scenes, as far as IPL commentary is concerned. What is the entire process like – from the time the commentators’ list is finalised and the experts intimated, till the winners’ trophy is handed to the captain of the title-winning team to bring the curtain down on another glimmering IPL season?
To find the answers to some of my questions, I had to talk to someone in the thick of things, someone who knows the ins and outs of IPL and international cricket commentary.
Former India captain Anjum Chopra played over 150 international matches for India, scoring over 3,600 runs, as a left-hand batter and also took 11 wickets, as a right-arm medium pacer. The ambidextrous cricketer was one of the original poster girls of Indian cricket, becoming the first female cricketer to cross 1,000 ODI runs for India and was part of the 2005 Indian team which finished as runners-up in the Women’s World Cup in South Africa.
She is a regular member of commentary panels for international cricket and the IPL, having been in the IPL commentary box since 2015. Who better to answer my long list of questions? And Anjum was gracious enough to take time out of her extremely busy schedule to talk to me about the life of an IPL commentator.
So, let’s start at the very beginning. The domain of bringing commentators on board is that of the host broadcaster. But first, they have to of course check with all the experts that they are free and available to call the IPL games.
“We get confirmation about the services in advance, obviously, before the tournament starts, much in advance. There is a step before that also. So, around January we will receive an email from the host broadcaster checking about our availability. If we are available, then they check with us about what dates we are available on or not available on. The confirmation of the services required can come in about two weeks or so, sometimes a week before the tournament starts and the roster also comes in then,” Anjum said in an exclusive interaction with Firstpost.
For those who are not familiar with this jargon – a roster is simply ‘a list or plan showing turns of duty or leave for individuals or groups’, as prepared by those who are employing the individual’s or group’s services. As Anjum shared - the commentary roster for the IPL is initially drawn-up till the end of the league phase. For the playoffs, for obvious reasons, the roster is drawn-up later.
“In a World Cup event also, the initial commentary roster is prepared only till the end of the league phase. But this roster is fully prepared before the tournament begins, so I know which venues I will be needed at, when I am travelling etc,” Anjum said.
The 18th season of the IPL began on March 22 this year and is running till 3 June – as per the revised schedule following a week-long suspension – with 12 days of double-header matches. A total of 74 matches make up the season (including the playoffs). The league games, are being played across 13 stadiums. Commentators of course are needed for all the games, at all the venues – not just for live commentary during the game, but also for the pitch report, toss, interviews during the first innings, mid-innings interviews, post-match interviews and then of course for the post-match presentation.
Imagine preparing and managing the logistics for an exercise of this scale. No wonder then that there’s an entirely separate department that is at work, to make sure that everything happens smoothly and all commentators are exactly at the venues they are supposed to be at, for the games they are scheduled to call, on time. For IPL 2025, that’s managing a roster of about 170 experts (according to news reports).
“For the logistics, there is a full back-end team working tirelessly on all these things. Hotel bookings are still easy to manage because somewhere or the other you will get a hotel, but flight bookings are of course trickier. And everything is planned. It’s not like suddenly you will be called from the UK to do one match,” Anjum, who received the Arjuna award in 2007, said.
‘I am barely sleeping a few hours’
What is very important to understand here is that calling a game is not as easy as just showing up at the venue, entering the comm box, picking up a microphone and talking about live action. All commentators, like anyone who takes their work seriously and knows credibility is everything, want to be very, very well prepared to call a match. That means doing a fair bit of homework. Most cricket commentators these days are former cricketers, which means they know all the nuances of the game inside-out. But doing live commentary demands much more. That is where the preparation comes in.
Like Anjum said – it’s a lot like “preparing for an exam”.
So, what does a day in the life of an IPL commentator, while the tournament is on, look like? Anjum preferred to talk about a week of doing commentary, rather than one solitary day.
“Let’s look at what a week in an IPL commentator’s life looks like – because there is no day or evening concept, as such. For us it’s only match days and non-match days. Then there is a travel day or a break day. And I think everyone is in the same boat and thinks like this. I might take a flight at 6:30 am, so there’s no real previous night for me, because I am getting up early, travelling to the airport, catching a flight. So, whether I am coming back home or travelling to a match venue, there is no night. I am barely sleeping a few hours.
“Now when I get to the next venue – say I am travelling from Delhi to Dharamsala and if the flight is delayed, then the number of hours you will get to sleep will be reduced. So, say if my call time is 5pm, I will obviously have to get ready before that. Now I might want to go to the gym, I might want to go for a swim, so those hours get adjusted accordingly. So, I will plan my sleep accordingly. If I am travelling there is hardly any concept of breakfast or lunch or dinner. Everything is dependent on work timings and sleep. So, if I know that I will not get time before the match to prepare for the game, because I will be sleeping or travelling, then I will prepare to call the game the previous day.
“So, it’s like preparing for an exam. I don’t want to prepare last minute. I would rather prepare my notes beforehand and then I can always brush up on a few things later, or put in some questions to the statistician or to my producer – like “please pull out this player’s dismissals or what a player has been like against spinners, strike rates etc”. So, I need to prepare beforehand so that I can ask these questions and get the numbers etc. that I need. I will get the answers, but what questions I need to ask, that I need to prepare for (also),” the former India captain further said.
Once in the ‘comm box’, a commentator has to be ready to go – prepared to call the match and bring to the fore all of her or his knowledge, as they speak into what are called ‘lip-ribbon microphones.’ These are microphones that are also used by voice-over artists and by reporters, anchors and producers to do news or documentary voice-overs. These ‘mics’ are usually bi-directional. Or, in other words, they have the capacity to pick up sounds equally well from either side of the microphone, while cutting out ambient noise – like other sounds around the ‘comm-box’ or noise from the crowd in the stands, during a live match, etc.
Statisticians just as integral for commentary
Now, one thing that is an intrinsic part of calling cricket matches – both international and franchise cricket – are statistics. You would have seen how graphics showing a whole host of different and yet very relevant numbers show up on your TV screen, almost magically - exactly while the commentators are discussing that particular subject - and how the commentators discuss and decode those figures.
Often a commentator will share statistics with the live audience while analysing a certain facet of the game – the venue that the match is being played at, average totals at a certain ground, a batter’s numbers against a certain bowler or how many times a particular bowler has dismissed a particular batter and so on and so forth. You don’t have to be a genius to know that a team of qualified statisticians have to be employed for all this. Multiple news organisations – both TV and digital also employ the services of a qualified and reliable statistician. But did you know that there is an official statistician sitting with the commentators, inside the commentary box?
“There is an official statistician who sits next to us in the commentary box. Also, the match roster comes in 24 hours before a game, so I will know whether I am doing a player interview, whether I am doing a pitch report, whether I am doing the toss etc. And also, which slots I am going to be doing commentary in. Everything comes to me.
“Now, if I am supposed to do some match interviews, the names of the players might or might not be provided in advance, because that depends on the teams – which players are they providing for an interview. Then, the statistician also sends a document about stats of the two teams which are playing and also on individual players. We have all that. There are two-three different kinds of statistics that are floating around.
“For me, as a broadcaster to read through them, understand etc. Beyond that, if I have a question, I can always put that forward and I will be given the answer. So, 99.9 per cent of statistics I have with me, before I start calling the game. But in case I want a specific statistic, I can ask there and then and the statistician will provide me that data. Or sometimes he himself will come over with some stat. So, we will know for example that a batter is completing a century, but he will give us more information – number of deliveries comparison, whether this was a more impactful knock than his last century or any other century or this is a knock against the same opposition, at the same venue, or runs scored against the same bowler etc. and he will give us all that information then and there, because he is also tracking the match ball-by-ball.
“Like for example a batter has scored his fourth half-century – this kind of statistic he will remind us of by prompting us about the same. Also, the graphic for the same will already be ready, because the statistics are already floated. For example, there will mostly be a set number of batters per game who could potentially score a fifty, so those numbers are already fed there. And when we talk about it, that statistic appears on your TV screen. Sometimes the statistician will just get up and show me a piece of paper with some numbers, so that more and more information can go out to the audience,” Anjum further shared.
Friendships and camaraderie inside the ‘comm box’
Yes, it’s quite a hectic job, being a cricket commentator, but also a lot of fun. And one facet that adds to the overall experience of ‘calling’ a game and making it more enjoyable is of course the friendships that are forged inside the commentary box, among people who might never have properly met each other in the past. Needless to say, over the years, as commentators work more and more with each other, there is of course a certain camaraderie that is formed, relationships and friendships established.
Many of the commentators of course have played alongside each other, or have known each other for many years, so there is a certain comfort factor there. But often a new commentator will join the ranks and like any other working relationship, it takes time to break the ice. Recently, according to news reports, former New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, who was in fact playing in the IPL till last season, joined the commentary panel for IPL 2025.
“So, there is obviously going to be a day one, a day two and a day three and so on and so forth. For me day one was when I first did IPL commentary in 2015, so I was a little hesitant, a bit shy. There are of course people who have worked with each other or played alongside each other, so they had a certain camaraderie. But over the years as you keep working, keep meeting, keep interacting, those pathways are also created (for you). Like, I have obviously not played with Ian Bishop or Sunny sir (Sunil Gavaskar), but when you get into the comm box, you know each other and you know what is coming from where and what is coming from who.
“So, that relationship is developed over a period of time. And it’s up to the individual also. Now, if we are working together in the same comm box and if there’s a scenario where somebody requires the other person’s help, then we are right there to assist and to add on. Sometimes when you are speaking you can just suddenly blank-out, like – ‘who batted?’ That’s when the other person understands that this is the word or information that you are looking for and they prompt that word and it helps you form the whole sentence.
“So, it depends on the comfort level and when people are comfortable with each other it rubs off on the work as well. And that cohesiveness, that comfort level comes across on the screen as well, which I feel is more when you are friendly with people,” Anjum, first Indian female cricketer to receive honorary membership of the MCC, further said.
Another facet of doing live commentary, just like being an active cricketer, is the travel. It is a constant in any commentator’s life, during cricket season, which these days is pretty much the whole year. ‘Living out of a suitcase’ is a reality – not just for the cricketers playing the tournament, but also the experts calling the matches.
It’s a facet of life that many athletes grow quite weary of, and that’s not surprising at all. For the commentators, there is at least the flexibility of deciding whether they want to stay on at a venue they are supposed to call a match at in a few days, or return home. And that is something that gives them a whole lot of breathing space, especially when turnaround times are so quick.
“The number of days I have to travel in one season depends entirely on the roster. So, for example – the tournament is 74 matches in all and it depends on how many matches your services are required for and where you have to travel to. So, if I have to travel to Dharamsala, I might just travel on the morning of the match and then return the next day or stay back.
“I was doing the matches in Dharamsala on May 4 and 8 this time – but I decided to come back to Delhi after the game on the 4th, because I wanted to come back, rather than staying back there for three days. That flexibility we have. Sometimes the roster is changed or altered, like I was supposed to do a game in Chennai, but they asked me to do a game in Jaipur instead. Sometimes these changes can happen last minute. But it doesn’t really matter, because instead of taking a flight to Chennai, I took a flight to Jaipur. These changes happen very rarely, anyway,” Anjum, who was awarded the Padma Shri in 2014, added.
IPL vs international cricket from the perspective of a commentator
Anjum, thanks to her years and years of cricketing experience at the highest level, is one of the more sought-after commentators – both in international cricket and in the IPL. So she was, in many ways, the perfect person to put the following question to – ‘what is more exciting as a commentator - calling international cricket matches or IPL games?’
“The feel of calling an international match vis-à-vis an IPL game is very different. It’s like playing for India in a bilateral series vs playing for India in a World Cup. It’s not that one is bigger than the other. Not at all. It’s just the feel which is different. It’s the same expectations, same pressure, but the research is different.
“Like in a T20 match you might have lesser stints. In an IPL game you might have five commentators, in a World Cup game you might have more commentators, so the number of your stints are reduced and you have to make an impact in only those overs that you are calling, after being outside the comm box for 40 minutes.
“Here in the IPL, you have quick turnarounds. So, calling an IPL game vs an international match – they are different, both have their own challenges.”
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