3 famous players who did commentary but could not succeed
There have been legendary cricket players, both with the bat and the ball. While playing, they excelled and post-retirement; they carried on with various jobs related to cricket like administration, coaching, and commentary.
Sunil Gavaskar, Ian Chappell, and others were good at commentary while players like John Wright, Gary Kirsten, and others excelled at coaching the players. Sourav Ganguly and Clive Lloyd have been good administrators.
There have been famous players who did commentary after their retirement but their career never quite took off. I have discussed three such players.
#1 Kapil Dev
They called him the ‘Haryana Hurricane.’ He started the trend of fast bowling in India and inspired generations of Indians after him to pick up fast bowling as a career option in cricket.
Post his retirement, he picked up the microphone and commentated. His command over English and Hindi was not up to the mark, and hence he struggled with words and immaculate exlanations. His commentary also lacked the critical insights and technicalities of the game which Sunil Gavaskar, Geoffrey Boycott, and Ian Chappell provided.
#2 Allan Border
Allan Border has been a batting legend in the history of the cricket. He was the first batsman to go past Gavaskar’s Test record of the highest runs.
Border started commentating in the 1990s, but his Australian accent was too difficult to be understood by the Indian sub-continent fans. Another reason was that his remarks on the players were mostly scathing when he criticized them. This annoyed a lot of fans and the players.
He was more interested in the administration of the game and hence devoted less time in the commentary box.
#3 Waqar Younis
Waqar was a menacing bowler who bowled fast and accurate with the variations. His in-swingers and the toe-crushing yorkers often made batsmen fall on their feet. They called him the 'Burewala Express.'
Waqar commentated during the mid-2000s. He was not fluent with words, both in Hindi and English. He concentrated on narrating the match situation, rather than going into the technicalities of the game. Younis never told anecdotes and stories about his cricketing heydays, which were provided by Ramiz Raja and Wasim Akram and hence he could never succeed as a commentator.
He later shifted focus towards cricket administration and coaching.