This is what it's like to be a professional cricket commentator

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This is what it's like to be a professional cricket commentator image

These questions originally appeared on Quora - the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights. They were answered on May 20th, 2016.

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Answers by Harsha Bhogle, cricket commentator:

Q: What are the most common misconceptions about cricket commentary?

A: People read too much into what commentators say. I speak for myself and there is never an agenda; there are no issues to settle, no sides to be taken. That a world feed is different from an India-centric language feed, maybe, is the biggest misconception. On a world feed, you are speaking to people everywhere and so you cannot focus too much on one team. On a country-specific feed, like the Hindi feed on Star Sports, you can.

Maybe one more. Many people think the stats we throw out are based on our own homework or spontaneity. Sometimes they are, but only sometimes. Most often, the stats or analytics people provide them to you, and in doing so make you look more knowledgeable than you really are!

Also, the channel doesn’t always produce the telecast. Often, it only beams the feed. For example, for cricket played in India, the BCCI produces the feed and Star Sports relays it. The programs before, in between, and after the game are produced by the network.

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Q: Which cricket match has been your personal favorite? 

A: There have been many, as you would imagine after all these years. The World T20 final in 2007, the first two games of the 2015 World Cup that India played (Pakistan at Adelaide and South Africa at Melbourne), the Chennai test against Pakistan in 1999, the test matches at Leeds in 2002, Perth in 2008, and Lords in 2014, and so many others. The Lords Test in 1990, even though India lost, because so many amazing things happened … the entire India-Australia series in 2001 ... the World Cup final of 2011 even though I was in the studio and not on the ground.

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Q: Who is a better captain, Sourav Ganguly or MS Dhoni?

A: Different situations require different kinds of leaders. Sourav Ganguly was excellent at a time when faith in Indian cricket was diminishing, and he was what we call a wartime general. Having said that, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble were fabulous captains, too. By the time Dhoni came around the situation had changed and the seniors were starting to leave, and so he didn’t have the same resources at his command. But he was an excellent limited overs captain and I suspect that is the format he enjoyed the most. It's so difficult to compare across situations. What I will say, though, is that India has been very lucky with the right men over the last 15 years.

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