After ten years of listening to international cricket matches only with English commentary, my Pakistaniat (which includes the love for our national language) was awakened again with all the excitement of the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Off I went, then, in search of some place where I could still find Urdu cricket commentary.
Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a single source on the Pakistani media where I can hear live Urdu commentary of any cricket match, the World Cup included. In India, on the other hand, I did find at least two sources of Hindi commentary; in fact, I followed the Pakistan vs. West Indies Quarter-Final on one of them.
I am sad – very sad – that Urdu cricket commentary has disappeared, at least from the television screens. I think this is a terrible loss. Here is why.
Urdu cricket commentary is like reading an Urdu newspaper: First, it has more masalla; call it sensationalism, but it can be fun. Second, there are some phrases and comments that are simply not translatable to English and add so much spice. And, third, the Urdu commentators (much like Urdu news anchors) don’t even try to hide their biases, which makes even the boring moments less boring!
For example, this is what I heard just this week in the Hindi commentary after the first 10 overs of West Indies innings:
“Pakistan nay West Indies paar Shikanja Kuss Diya…”
Now, tell me please, even if you can translate these words into English, could you ever translate the sense the listener gets from “shikanja kuss daina”?
Pakistan has produced some extraordinary Urdu cricket commentator – indeed, Paksitan has also produced some amazing English commentators from Omar Qureshi to Iftikhar Ahmed to Rameez Raja. (The picture at the top shows some of the great cricket journalists and commentators of the past, including Iftikhar Ahmed, Munir Hussain, Farooq Mazhar, Omer Kureshi and Khalid Hassan).
The top-line Urdu commentators have included Munir Hussain, Hasan Jalil, and late Tasleem Arif. Munir Hussain still lives in Karachi but we don’t see him quite even on TV talk shows on cricket; I wonder why? Hasan Jalil moved to USA and does often write for Pakistani newspapers.
Here are some of the memorable lines from these commentators that I still remember after all these years:
“Javed Miandad nay aik Chowway kay leeaye mara aur gaind hawa mein gai; taizi she boundary ki taraf jaa rahee hai…. aur yeh aik run!”
“Pakistani team fatah key qareeb laikin abhi aik khilari baaqi hai jo abhi tak jam kar khel raha hai”
“Inzimam ul Haque aaiy baray promising player hain, aur yeh bowler nay gaind karaee aur yeh out! Pehli gaind paar!”
“Saleem Malik nay aaj apni shandaar karkerdegi sey Pakistan ki yaqeeni Shikast ko fatah main tabdeel kar diya. Yehan Eden Gardens Calcutta kay ground main” (This was the famous innings by Salim Malik in the 1987 tour of India)
You may have your own memorable phrases and turn of phrases from these Urdu commentators. If so, do please share.
I do think following a Pakistan cricket match with Urdu commentary can add “char chaand” to the game itself. I wish someone could add these “four moons” to the forthcoming Semi-Final against India this Wednesday!
On a more serious note, I wish the media moguls would bring back Urdu cricket commentary because it would be good for cricket as well as for Urdu. Most Pakistanis do not understand English. And even for those who do, Urdu cricket commentary just might improve their Urdu and at least somewhat stall the decline of the national language which continues to suffer from national apathy.
Oh I so totally relate to this!! I’m in Australia at the moment and spent hours and hours during the last match (quarter final with the West Indies) looking for Urdu commentary online because I too was desperately missing the ‘four moons’ it adds to the cricket experience and is something I associate strongly with my childhood – the pleasant sound of Urdu commentary in the background, even before I had ever really watched a match! But, sadly, I found nothing either, and was most disappointed.
In Lahore I can catch Urdu commentary on FM 106 point something when I am in my car. Its not very good. One guy speaks in Urdu, another repeats in English. A painfully inarticulate Sadiq Muhammad is never too far from the mic. “Aur yeh BOHAT SHANDAR shot!!! or kisi run ka izafa nahin”
Talking of vernacular commentary, I am not very sure about the quality. I can at least talk about Hindi commentators, which you have mentioned. They are idiotic lot of mutual-admiration society who don’t know their head from their tail. Often they keep talking in pronouns, so somebody who has joined in the middle actually does not know whom are they talking about. It leads to hilarious double entendre. However, to hear their blabbering is a delight and gives a welcome break when the match turns boring. You can at least laugh your ass off. I’ll give you some of the examples from the recent matches in the world cup. These jewels are from commentators Vijay Dahiya and another fellow, both of whom have been ex-International cricketers.
“…Ye Leg Spinner hain jinki baal leg mein spin karti hai…”
” (About Zubin Surkari, the Canadian Player)… Surkari to sarkari kaam (Hindi for Government job) ke jaise dheere dheere khel rahe hain…”
“…Agar Cricket Ram hai to Tendulkar Hanuman hain… 20 saal se game ki sewa (serve) kar rahe hain…”
“…Bret Lee ki last baal yorker thi aur ye baal wide. Ye zindagi ki taraha hai, kabhi dhoop kabhi chaanv…”
” (My favorite; typical case of missing noun leading to double entendre)… Aap lay tabhi sakte hain jab aap set hon…” ;)
Now say, you still want vernacular commentary?
For our esteemed friend, who said Urdu commentary cannot translate technical cricket terms – my comment to that is we don’t have to convert them.
Cricket’s technical vocabulary is language agnostic.
Technical cricket words like ‘Cover drive’, ‘Square cut’ etc don’t have meanning in literary English either.
If we don’t know what ‘cover drive’ means in Cricket – no language can help – either English or Urdu or any other langauge.
Acha shot ball boundry line k bahir 6 runs ! :-p