Favourite commentary lines

[VC the slogger]

A bit of banter between a fat Ian Smith and bald Nasser Hussain during the 2019 WC final..

Ian Smith: The last time England were in this, you used a comb.
Nasser Hussain: And you were slim..

 

[Deleted member 193590]

This is a classic geoff moment

 

[AsadRM]

Here are a few that I remember:

• Rajat Bhatia bowling gently. Harsha says: "Any bowler has 3 pace variations – fast,medium and slow. But Rajat Bhatia has – slow,slower and slowest! "
• Once Dhoni was blasting his way through. Hitting bowlers to all ends and then Sachin got the strike and caressed one for a boundary and Bhogle commented: "We have a surgeon at one end and a butcher at the other"
  
• In a match against England, Ashwin came to bat and started playing unconventional cricket shots, and Harsha Bhogle said: "Ashwin has just played 3 shots that no father will ever teach to his child.
  
• In 2015 WC Pakistan had lost 3 wickets against India and Afridi came to the crease. Shoaib Akhtar on Hindi commentary: "Pakistan ab Afrdi pr dependent hai (Pakistan is now dependent on Afridi)." Dravid replied "Bohat kharab situation hai agar aap Afridi pr dependent hain(the situation is very bad if you are dependent on Afridi)".
  
• Most of you would know that New Zealand often has very short boundaries especially the straighter ones. In SA vs SL Imran Tahir took a catch off his own bowling and started running. Harsha Bhogle: "Well, Imran Tahir just won a gold medal!! He would have been in the stands if the match had been played in New Zealand"
• Nasser Hussain refers to good batting conditions in Nottingham, saying he averages 40 odd on that wicket. Ganguly said "If you average 40+, that must be the world’s best batting track".
  
• Ravi Shastri to Sourav Ganguly "Shouldn't there be a stand named after you in Eden Gardens?" Ganguly simles and replies 'The entire ground belongs to me".
• Nasser Hussain "When can I see India in a FIFA World Cup? Bhogle replies "It's better not to qualify than to get knocked out in first round" Ganguly also joins the conversation and says "If we had played in the World Cup for 50 years, would have won once at least - unlike England".
• Nasser Hussain once again takes a dig at Ganguly and India saying "It is England but India has more support in the crowd and pitch is assisting your spinners, says a lot about our hospitality, right?" Ganguly replies "We let you rule our nation for so many years This is the least you can do for us".
• Harsha Bhogle: "I find this critiscm of Misbah very strange. It is like saying the sole breadwinner in a family of 10 isn't doing enough".
• Ramiz Raja on Urdu commentary of PSL discussed Faheem Ashraf's haircut and said that he doesn't like it. The fellow commentator Urooj Mumtaz replied: "Looks like your (Ramiz's) and his (Faheem's) hairdresser is the same person".

Now the 'real' gems from none other than the great Ramiz Raja:

• Hafeez is pushing smoothly that his partner Jamshed is satisfied today.
• Kamran Akmal is not Misbah's next choice. He's not padded up. He's not even wearing his trousers. He's wearing shorts I think..I hope he is!
• They fielded like a breeze
• After Sreesanth-Harbhajan slapgate: He's slapped one thorugh the offside. Of late I shouldnt be saying that, slap has become controversial. He's hit it hard through the offside
• Shoaib Malik has got beautiful pair of hands
• The batsman hits a shot and fielder failed to stop the boundary .The Great Raja said “To field that ball you need strength and stamina. But that fielder doesn't have any of them “

 

[Na Maloom Afraad]

• Shoaib Malik has got beautiful pair of hands

What the hell. That just cracked me for no reason.

 

[AsadRM]

What the hell. That just cracked me for no reason.

There are are a few other gems from Ramiz in my mind, but they are too strong to be posted here

(Aqalmand ke liye ishara kaafi hota hai) Translation: A signal is enough for an intelligent person.

 

[qpeedore]

The Lord's Taveners meetings are always ripe for great quotes.

Mike Gatting: "Nah I figured me arse was too big..." To just before facing the ball of the century.

Viv Richards: "See ball, hit ball"

Jeremy Coney (in hospital with a broken arm signing an autograph for a young fan): "So you get up to Sabina Park don't you?" Fan: "No sir, they all come here (to hospital) sometime."

 

[khalek]

“In the air gone! Not that important! He’s gone the next ball. Brilliant from Amir! Pakistan cricket at its best — one minute down, next minute up!”

 

[qpeedore]

I don't remember who said it, but it was in the 1999 WI/Aus tour.

This was the match where Lara hit 153 in a winning effort.

Walsh was on strike and McGrath bowled an almost perfect inswinger to him. Somehow the bat came down in time.

"That is stopping the yorker, dead."

I still remember that line to this day.

 

[qpeedore]

This one is a radio gem from Fazeer Mohammed.

The West Indies were playing Sri Lanka, I was in the car with my dad. Usually I would travel (EDIT: ie use public transport) to school, but every now and then my dad's morning shift would coincide with when I was leaving for school so I'd get a free ride.

So on this particular morning we were listening to the commentary on the radio. Lara had just hit the bowler for a boundary, and said bowler decided to go around the wicket for the next ball. (Murali? I can't recall...it was a spinner though, and given that with the time difference and all, it would have been the evening session, so perhaps it was Murali...this would have been, say 2002 or 2003.)

Lara promptly hits the next ball for another four.

Fazeer: Well, over the wicket, around the wicket, beside the wicket, under the wicket, wherever you bowl to Lara, he's going to hit you away...

 

[qpeedore]

(Andy Roberts on being labelled as the Hitman...this is from the Fire in Babylon documentary...)

Andy: I hear people say I was the Hitman, I didn't go out to try to hit people...it's just that a lot of people get hit...

(Yes, I am skewed toward West Indies, this is MY team. And I will support them, win or lose, until the day I die.)

 

[Bigby Wolf]

That Straight Drive at 0:42, was watching the CB series highlights while have lunch this afternoon.

And what a pleasure it was to watch the Mastero at the full helm playing in the MCG with iconic commentators on the Air - Tony Greig, Richie Benaud & Ian Chappell.

Tony Greig - Great shot, Absolutely magnificent ... Tendulkar didn't have to move an inch.

Ian Chappell - Well that was the young Sachin .... that was not just punching but a full blooded drive.

Richie Benaud - Sitting at home make sure you get that on your video tape it is worth looking at.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

This was during 2014 IPL in the match between RCB v/s KKR at Sharjah. Muralitharan was bowling for the first time in the match and he was bowling to Chris Lynn. Lynn hit a slog sweep which hit the electronic scoreboard on the roof with Murali's picture on display. Harsha Bhogle was the comentating and he said,

"Right first ball !!! Welcome Murali. And he hits Murali right on the screen !!!! There he was on the screen."

 

[AsadRM]

A few gems from the Great Ramiz Raja

During Pak vs Afg in the 2019 WC: 'I like Afghanistan's kit, reminds me of Spiderman'.

''Vince makes a mince of bowlers''.

"Ball isn't spinning but Zalmi's head is spinning."

“Middle of the edge.”

Once, he referred to Umar Akmal as 'Umar Kumar'.

'If we have a Super Over then super things can happen.'

'Phillip Salt, rubbing the salt (after his catch to remove de Villiers)'

"If Livingstone gets a century on debut then it will be a memorable Living-ton."

'Multan Sultan's captain Shoaib Malik is out there, captaining Sultan Multans'.

'That shot sounded stereo'

"Babar Zaman is a good player"

"Babar Ali. the 22-year-old is a class act." Ramiz, its Babar Azam and he was 24 years old at that point in time.

"Samit Patel bats right-handed Bowls left-handed Eats with both hands." Wow Ramiz bhai! That's some technical insight

"Elfy TV": Ramiz telling people to tune in to UAE's ELife TV

"Finch, how are you preparing for the next series which is against India?" Finch replies "Ah its actually against South Africa."

 

[Dutch]

“Norman Cowans should remember what happened to Graham Dilley, who started off as a genuinely quick bowler. Then, they started stuffing line and length into his ear, and now he has Dennis Lillee’s action with Denis Thatcher’s pace.” Geoffrey Boycott

 

[Ashutosh.]

Dhoni........ finishes off in style. A magnificent strike into the crowd! India lift the World Cup after 28 years!