Indians, Indians Everywhere

[Bumper]

Dhondy, I agree that Indians tend to be parochial. But dont you find citizens of every other nation doing the same ? The likes of Barry Richards & Graeme Pollock who have hardly played test cricket, being consistently picked in most Hall of Famers list, is a classic example. Its by no means, a unique trait of subcontinentals. The white guys do it far too often and frequently get away with it, because of their superior clout and marketing skills. That said, we see our fellow Indians doing such things far more annoying, coz, there are just too many of us & most of us come across as loud, uncouth and boorish. As the saying goes, Faimilarity breeds contempt!

[Bumper]

That said, Harsha Bhogle, is one of the worst commentators on my list. He winks more than speaks. He is always afraid to probe the contraversial. Toes the party line on most topics and can at best play second fiddle to a more elite commentator. If he is among the best commentators, then Yusuf Pathan is better than Bradman!

[Lurker]

Have you guys, like me become sick of Indians swamping the correspondence pages, blogs and polls with their ubiquitous presence? They are here, there and everywhere, disputing the greatness of non Indian players, barracking Jonathon Agnew for placing Steyn above Zaheer Khan, or on the fox news website, expressing their views on Aussie cricket, hoping that somewhere along the way, one of the authors would take pity and bring up India. And Tendulkar. Or at least, Dravid.

It is the case of Information Democracy where every Tom, Dick and Harry has rights but little previliges. Indians being most in number(out of cricketing countries) are no different. What bothers me not so much is Indians falling on Nationalistic ideals. Afterall they wont be the first set of people to do that, what bothers me is the knowledge(or lack of). In the poll mentioned 3 Indians - Bhogle, Shastri, Gavaskar - feature in top 10 list. Now spare a moment for how these 3 gents would be feeling right now. Gavaskar - Would most likely be jumping in his chair shouting "In your face goras". His USP has always been West bashing and many Indians are only too happy. I suspect Sunny shall only get more belligerent now. Shastri - Most likely would not care one way or the other. He is very much his own man who may have a bout of pro India now and then but by and large has a very strong personality that is not defined by where he comes from. Bhogle - Would be greatly embarassed. As a man who greatly understands cricket and has on more than one occassion mentioned how he prefers the old school methodology(read radio commenting over television broadcast) will be greatly embarassed to find himself not only in the same league as the Great(est) Richie Benaud but also ahead of him!

[observer1]

Dhondy You have made 2 mistakes 1. You seem to think the results of the poll are wrong. The results of a poll, my friend (snigger, snigger) reflect the opinion of the majority who vote. Full stop. You may think the BJP are crap, but the majority voted them in to government in 2001 or whenever it was. It doesnt mean the BJP are better... 2. You accuse Indians of parochialism just bcos they voted Bhogle as number one - and you are then bringing in specious, and rather disingenuous arguments to squirm out. What is wrong in someone feeling that Mr X is a better commentator that Mr Y - the criteria they use to judge commentating may be different from yours - I dont think HB is the best, but others do. So what? If someone from rural Leicestershire felt Dermot Reeve is god's gift to commentating, I would feel that he is entitled to his opinion, but certainly wouldnt say that he made that comment because he was a Brit.

[DomainK]

Dhondy You have made 2 mistakes 1. You seem to think the results of the poll are wrong. The results of a poll, my friend (snigger, snigger) reflect the opinion of the majority who vote. Full stop. You may think the BJP are crap, but the majority voted them in to government in 2001 or whenever it was. It doesnt mean the BJP are better... 2. You accuse Indians of parochialism just bcos they voted Bhogle as number one - and you are then bringing in specious, and rather disingenuous arguments to squirm out. What is wrong in someone feeling that Mr X is a better commentator that Mr Y - the criteria they use to judge commentating may be different from yours - I dont think HB is the best, but others do. So what? If someone from rural Leicestershire felt Dermot Reeve is god's gift to commentating, I would feel that he is entitled to his opinion, but certainly wouldnt say that he made that comment because he was a Brit.

Very well said.:two_thumbs_up:

[fineleg]

You are 100% correct' date=' but you have think of it from the average Indian psyche where IIM is given a demi God status.[/quote'] I have to agree with you shwetabh. Harsha Bhogle is a fairly ordinary commentator, and I can't see how he did well in the poll. Baffling to say the least, and I think "IIM" played a part.

[Dhondy]

Dhondy You have made 2 mistakes 1. You seem to think the results of the poll are wrong. The results of a poll, my friend (snigger, snigger) reflect the opinion of the majority who vote. Full stop. You may think the BJP are crap, but the majority voted them in to government in 2001 or whenever it was. It doesnt mean the BJP are better... 2. You accuse Indians of parochialism just bcos they voted Bhogle as number one - and you are then bringing in specious, and rather disingenuous arguments to squirm out. What is wrong in someone feeling that Mr X is a better commentator that Mr Y - the criteria they use to judge commentating may be different from yours - I dont think HB is the best, but others do. So what? If someone from rural Leicestershire felt Dermot Reeve is god's gift to commentating, I would feel that he is entitled to his opinion, but certainly wouldnt say that he made that comment because he was a Brit.

No, I think the results of the poll are disgraceful, and reflect badly on Indians in general. On this very website, there have been several people, more than those who hold the other POV, who've come out and said he is a pedestrian commentator. Yet, he's been voted ahead of far more respected commentators. If the purpose of the poll was to find the best commentator, it has failed miserably. If it was to find which one of the incumbents commanded the largest cabal, well...you have the answer, don't you? You'll probably find that argument specious and disingenuous as well. Very well, those are the paradigms you live by. I can live with that, thank you. :winky:

[fineleg]

Dhondy You have made 2 mistakes 1. You seem to think the results of the poll are wrong. The results of a poll, my friend (snigger, snigger) reflect the opinion of the majority who vote. Full stop. You may think the BJP are crap, but the majority voted them in to government in 2001 or whenever it was. It doesnt mean the BJP are better... 2. You accuse Indians of parochialism just bcos they voted Bhogle as number one - and you are then bringing in specious, and rather disingenuous arguments to squirm out. What is wrong in someone feeling that Mr X is a better commentator that Mr Y - the criteria they use to judge commentating may be different from yours - I dont think HB is the best, but others do. So what? If someone from rural Leicestershire felt Dermot Reeve is god's gift to commentating, I would feel that he is entitled to his opinion, but certainly wouldnt say that he made that comment because he was a Brit.

Sorry, but I disagree with the last bit. You are being "politically correct". While there are always an exception here or there, by far, the reason Dermot Reeve would be voted as God's gift to commentating would be the exact reason that you dont want to comment. And, certainly the same reason why HB as been voted. How else can HB be voted as among the best of the best!?

[theguyinallblue]

i confess that i like the commentary of Bhogle the most...followed by Ravi..i do not like sunny that much...and absolutely hate Manjerekar... The kind of energy and enthusiasm of Bhogle can not be matched by any live commentators.. He has made a mark for himself...in a game which needs deep knowledge...has many renowned ex cricketers... ESPN is not an ass company to make him their face...in cricket commentary... He is the Highest paid member of ESPN commentary team.

[observer1]

"On this very website, there have been several people, more than those who hold the other POV, who've come out and said he is a pedestrian commentator. Yet, he's been voted ahead of far more respected commentators. If the purpose of the poll was to find the best commentator, it has failed miserably" ^ How many of the people who feel HB should not have been there on the top actually voted in the poll? > If they did not, why do they feel so uptight? > HB coming out on top represents a paradigm shift (insert sniggering emoticon) in the ways of the masses.

[SachDan]

i confess that i like the commentary of Bhogle the most...followed by Ravi..i do not like sunny that much...and absolutely hate Manjerekar... The kind of energy and enthusiasm of Bhogle can not be matched by any live commentators.. He has made a mark for himself...in a game which needs deep knowledge...has many renowned ex cricketers... ESPN is not an ass company to make him their face...in cricket commentary... He is the Highest paid member of ESPN commentary team.

Sadly many here believe that they are better suited than Harsha to be a commentator.

[SachDan]

Like Harsha, how many cricket presenters world over gets the kind of attention from experts in the com box? Former players too helds him in high esteem coz of the way he conducts a show or a session of commentary. There's no."yes'.."no".."maybe" answers. Its a complete answer since the questions are so relevant.

[SachDan]

Sorry, but I disagree with the last bit. You are being "politically correct". While there are always an exception here or there, by far, the reason Dermot Reeve would be voted as God's gift to commentating would be the exact reason that you dont want to comment. And, certainly the same reason why HB as been voted. How else can HB be voted as among the best of the best!?

As our very own dsr put it the other day....Harsha is poor man's Richie Benaud....for whom cricket is simple game.

[Holysmoke]

Stop whining, live with it. :giggle:

[SachDan]

I have to agree with you shwetabh. Harsha Bhogle is a fairly ordinary commentator' date=' and I can't see how he did well in the poll. Baffling to say the least, and [b']I think "IIM" played a part.

Breaking News: Cricinfo discloses that all the votes for him were from IIMs all over the country :haha::haha: 'IIM' played a big part..ouh!

[SachDan]

Some one had an upbringing like that doesn't mean he can achieve what Harsha has done

[fineleg]

Harsha Bhogle coming ahead of Richie Benaud is a joke, and I hope this survey is not a "representative sample" of cricket fans all over. If it is a representative sample, then it denotes nothing but an alarming drop in the tastes of fans. Benaud can make one enjoy the commentary more than cricket, Bhogle can make one rush for the remote mute button after a while.

[Rajiv]

I think it's a simple case of showing some muscle. We haven't had a chance to waive opinion like this in last 50 years or so and now with the internet on our hand, we really like to express any in all ways we can. Dhondy, certainly has a point and I don't think this is a case of embarrassment but I can definitely say we ( Indians ) can be very one-eyed sometimes. Its probably that bottled up aggression and the world recognizing as a emerging nation v.s a tantric, yoga, maharishi place. Like Americans, whenever its the best, biggest, longest or whatever in the world, its American; nothing else matters We realize our supremacy in cricket and with a keyboard in our hand, a click is what it takes Rajeev ( Indian Passport -> Canadian Passport --> I don't know ) Lying in a den in Bombay With a slack jaw, and not much to say I said to the man, "Are you trying to tempt me Because I come from the land of plenty?" And he said, "Oh! Do you come from a land down under? (oh yeah yeah) Where women glow and men plunder? Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder? You better run, you better take cover."

[Chorazin Reto]

I applaud Indian patriotism but Sehwag better than Bradman, theres a difference between patriotism and blind devotion. I would have to go for Benaud, partly because i grew up listening to him so its familiar and partly because he has an amazing insight into the game. I cant recall how many times he has been commentating and talking about, for example, how the wind coming across the left arm pacer from his right will cause the ball to swing and give the batsmen a shot at x boundary that is the shortest for this ground and that if he was the bowler he would insist on having a fielder in x position to prevent this. 2 balls later the ball races away for 4 straight through the gap Benaud had pointed out and his clipped response is a simple "yes, well".

[Online]

I enjoy all of Doc's posts - but this is probably the worst.