I have a confession to make. For a major part of my life, till 2001, there was no cable television at home. My father had decided that it was an unnecessary distraction from my studies and here I was, stuck with a mad desire for cricket and denied my fix. Indians always figure a way out though and mine consisted of clambering up terraces and twisting our antenna wire with the coaxial cable television wires of our neighbours in the hope of catching some grainy signals. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. Sometimes I got HD quality (okay, that's hype), sometimes all I could hear was the commentary. It was bizarre, but it was wonderful. I held on to whatever morsel I could get. Sometimes, in life, when you are denied something, that's when you desire it more. I remember so much cricket from that era and so little now when I can watch each match ball-by-ball it's probably nature taking it's course. And it was somewhere here that I began my affair with a man who possessed the most magnetic voice of them all -Tony Greig.
I have always been enchanted by the early morning Channel 9 broadcasts from Australia. That was also a time when my parents and neighbours would be asleep and no one could detect my signal stealing. Bill Lawry, Richie Benaud, Ian Chappell and Tony Greig were my best friends. If mom and dad wanted to wake up to MS Subbulakshmi, I wanted to wake up to the Channel 9 commentary team. I could see bleary-eyed Tony Greig holding his Toyota keychain, inserting it to the pitch and telling us how hard or soft the pitch was, how much moisture it held and in general conveying an air of confidence that was captivating. I could hear Tony Greig boom out of the microphone "It's high in the air, Steven Waughr ( that 'r' is intentional) is getting under it and catches it safely". Bill Lawry and Tony Greig were masters at setting up scenarios with their breathtaking commentary. Ian Chappell preferred analysis and Richie Benaud subtle opinions but Bill and Tony took us on excellent adventures. Also, why Greig lingered longer was because he did a lot more commentary stints compared to Lawry and Benaud especially in the subcontinent and Sharjah.
When one is growing up, one gets excited more by drama than analysis. Greig personified drama, he owned it. When he announced "whadaaaplaaayaaah" to excited audiences in India we felt proud. We felt proud that an Indian has lit up the world cricketing stage. When Greig told us that Sehwag was the most exciting batsman he has seen at the start of the ICC Champions Trophy 2002, we too felt excited. There was a shared sense of entitlement, that here stands an Indian who has impressed the most dramatic commentator in the game.
As I grew older, I listened more to Chappell than Greig. As I was able to understand the game better, I felt Chappell had a lot more to tell - his stories were better, his understanding was greater and he was always willing to look at multiple points of view. With Greig, I felt that was missing. It might purely be my point of view, but I also felt it jarring when Greig was unable to remember player names. Greig mostly went with a 'he' instead of a player's name probably because he was unaware of the name and took the safer option. But, honestly, these are grouses that are rendered irrelevant now to me after reading the news of his death. A commentator leaving the stage is as important as a player retiring, their voices and acts are intertwined in our memories. The spate of retirements we are witnessing and the passing away of a unique commentator are plucking away the pages of my childhood and teenage years one by one and I cling to whatever I can.
Farewell Tony Greig (1946-2012).
