Chasing his Tony Greig dream: Nowhere to right there

Subhash Rajta

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 16

April 22, 1998. Sachin Tendulkar whipped up a storm in Sharjah, leaving the mighty Australians flattened in its wake. The inimitable Tony Greig worked his magic in the commentary box, transmitting the excitement and madness of that unforgettable evening to millions. Thousands of miles away, in a nondescript village in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur district, an 11-year-old caught a slice of the action on BBC Radio.

Greig’s delightful voice left him fascinated. Then and there, he made a decision — he would do what the man he was listening to was doing, and do it exactly the way he was doing it.

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December 5, 2017. That boy, now 30 years old, sat in the same commentary box, calling his first international game, an ODI between Ireland and Afghanistan. For Devender Kumar, there couldn’t have been a coincidence greater, and a moment prouder and happier.

Commentators are never at a loss for words, but Devender, for once, was. His normally solid and steady voice quivered. The struggle to hold back emotions was all too apparent as he tried to relive the incredible experience. “It was a surreal moment. As I walked up to the commentary box, I was almost in a trance, it was unbelievable...” he stops abruptly, maybe to get the control back over his trembling voice. 

Even if it had been a straightforward journey, it would have been impressive. His was as arduous as it could get. To begin with, he had absolutely no clue about the language he wanted to communicate in, and the sport he wanted to talk about.

“There was no English teacher in our village school, even Hindi was taught in Marwari,” Devender laughs. “And anyway you can’t play much cricket on sand.” So, he turned to radio for his lessons in the language and the sport. “For a long time, I didn’t understand much beyond ‘that’s out’, ‘that’s a six’... nevertheless, I would shout out those words at local cricket tournaments.” His dream hit the rock of reality when, in 2006, he landed at the Rajasthan Cricket Association stadium in Jaipur, hoping to land a commentating job he had been training and aspiring for. In the meantime, he had completed his Class XII and had been in and out of a nursing course. It didn’t take him long to realise that he had been aiming for the improbable, if not downright impossible. “I was ridiculed, some thought I was deranged, I was manhandled, pushed out of the stadium several times,” Devender recalls. Also, he realised he wasn’t ready yet.

He would spend most of his time in a library to brush up his language skills and knowledge of the sport, and visit every sporting event in the city to practise commentary, sometimes from outside the ground,  at times from some obscure corners inside. And his day would end listening to radio well past midnight. “It’s been my schedule for the last 10 years. At times, it was really tough, many a time I didn’t have enough money even for food. I couldn’t have told my family about my condition; they would have asked me to return. In such times, the ground staff at the stadium took care of me, they would offer food. They have been my family,” says Devender.

Despite this decade-long spirit-crushing struggle, there’s not a hint of sadness, or any malice. “As a commentator, my job is to spread joy and excitement. If I don’t feel genuinely happy and content, I won’t sound real on air.”

Having called an international series, Devender hopes the future will be kinder. “It went off really well. I was confident, but now that I’ve called an international game, I feel even more confident and hopeful.” Next goal? “The ultimate aim is to commentate for BBC someday, and be their best commentator,” Devender says. “It all started with BBC, it would be nice if it finishes there.”