IT was a great surprise and a greater pleasure to rediscover the live cricket commentary during the recently concluded Pakistan Cup. The well-organised tournament staged under the auspices of the PCB in Faisalabad will be remembered for two events — revival of live cricket commentary by Radio Pakistan and the utter disregard of the spirit of cricket and the laws of this great game by Younis Khan, the celebrated Pakistan batsman.

I am an ardent radio listener with prime interest in cricket running commentary. As a teenager I picked up this habit in the cold and serene environment of Quetta from Radio Pakistan and grew up listening to the Radio Pakistan running commentary programmes spearheaded by the legendry Omer Kureishi and Jamsheed Marker.

Although their commentaries were in English, a language not spoken or understood by most of us, yet their fervour and facility of language was such that we knew what was happening on the field. Their ranks were later joined by Chishty Mujahid and Iftikhar Ahmed, followed by Tariq Bucha, Tariq Rahim and Shehzad Humayun. Radio Pakistan through its frequent live coverage of all important domestic matches as also Test matches and One-day Internationals played in the country took cricket to the remotest parts of Pakistan, generating tremendous interest in the game. In the meantime telecasts of cricket matches also started, further boosting the interest for cricket in the country.

This kind of unprecedented popularity of cricket had been brought to the masses through a language which most of them did not understand. There was therefore a need to have running commentaries in a language they could understand. Radio Pakistan took the lead when they allowed late Munir Hussain to take short stints of Urdu commentary between sessions of English commentaries. It was an instant success and in its wake we found in addition to Munir Hussain some brilliant Urdu commentators like Bashir Khan, Hasan Jaleel and Muhammad Idrees. Thank you, Radio Pakistan.

This was about the running commentaries on cricket matches in Pakistan but there was as well a need to bring home to the ever growing local audiences the ball-by-ball commentaries on matches played by Pakistan abroad. Radio Pakistan, true to its traditions, stood up to the task again, when it not only commenced running commentaries from wherever Pakistan played their matches but competed favourably in quality and content with the BBC, Australian Broadcasting Corp, All-India Radio, Caribbean Radio and Radio South Africa. As if covering the matches involving Pakistan from the Test playing countries was not enough, Radio Pakistan took its live coverage of matches involving Pakistan to places like Sharjah, Kenya, Morocco and Abu Dhabi etc.

While Radio Pakistan was in the midst of accumulating accolades for its brilliant live coverage of cricket matches within as well as outside the country, one fine morning, unfortunately it discontinued ball-by-ball commentary on cricket matches, for reasons best known to it. It greatly disappointed the fans of cricket like me, who loved to follow the game on radio. It was like an addiction, you don’t get rid of easily.

Consequently we were forced to face ‘box commentary’. In ‘box commentary’ the commentator watches the match being played in another place on a TV monitor in front and gives impression that he is broadcasting the event from where it is happening. The idea, misleading as it was, had to be abandoned giving way to periodical ‘updates’, which were based on the same technique and could not catch on with the listeners.

This time around it goes to the credit of the PCB and the PBC for bringing back to us the joy of listening to running radio commentary, when Radio Pakistan sought PCB’s permission to broadcast ball-by-ball commentary on matches played in Faisalabad for the Pakistan Cup one-day tournament, which was duly given.

Listening to the recent running commentary on cricket matches was like finding back a treasure lost earlier. On a personal note I may share that I prefer my cricket on radio and when both radio and TV options are available I watch the match on TV with sound turned off, listening to my favourite commentators on radio. During the Pakistan Cup I did just that — though after a long time.

Like millions of others, the recent live coverage of cricket matches from Radio Pakistan came to me as a windfall and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but perhaps not more than those of my sightless friends, whose excitement was indescribable. In fact I was prompted to write this article because of these less fortunate friends of mine, expecting the PBC to continue live coverage during the forthcoming series between Pakistan and England and beyond.

Remember cricket commentary is and has always been Radio Pakistan’s most popular programme and if it is continued from FM 101 through its 19 channels, there wouldn’t be any nook and corner in the country left uncovered bringing untold enjoyment to countless number of people.

The writer is a former cricket umpire who supervised 28 Tests and 32 One-day Internationals

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2016