“The little fellow has hit the big fellow for a six.”
“One day I was flicking channels when I heard this piece of commentary on air,” Devender tells ESPNcricinfo on the sidelines of the washed out Afghanistan-New Zealand Test in Greater Noida. “I was attracted to Tony Greig’s voice and the rhythm of his commentary. I felt like this was something special and I should take it up.
“After this, I started practising commentary for hours. My father was in the Army and had an analog radio that played both short and medium wave-length radio stations. I used to listen to commentary from all sports, not just cricket, and then repeat this exercise for hours.”
This commentary journey, however, was not at all easy for Devender, who hails from Chutarpura, a small village in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. He neither spoke English nor had any sports background. Apart from this, he did not know what he had to do to become a commentator. He practised every day by listening to news and commentary on the radio. He loved the three-hour weekly ‘Sports World‘ programme on the BBC, through which he got to listen to commentators like John Murray and Alan Green on various sports, including football and tennis.
“Through this show, I used to get news from sports the world over every Saturday and Sunday,” Devender says. “In the beginning, I couldn’t even understand what they were saying, because I didn’t know English at all. But their way of talking, the rhythm of their voice, all this attracted me a lot.
“Gradually, I started reading English newspapers which improved my vocabulary and I could understand what they were saying. Due to this, my interest in sports and commentary increased and now it has become a 24-hour job.”
During this time, Devender also did a nursing course after completing school. After the course, he got a job offer in the USA, but he turned it down because he wanted to pursue commentary full-time. This happened in 2006, during the fag end of Tendulkar’s career. Devender just had to do commentary on one of Tendulkar’s games before his retirement. A job in the USA was not going to stop him from achieving this dream.
To pursue his dream, Devender came to Jaipur from Jodhpur. He felt that after coming to the capital of his state, his path would become easier and within six months he would start commentating in international matches. But the process to the top was a long and arduous one.
Devender used to go to the Sawai Mansingh Stadium every day. Whenever he saw any game going on, he would sit there, roll the newspaper as a mic and start commentating. He practised commentary on many sports including cricket, football, tennis, basketball, handball, volleyball, karate, kabaddi and horse polo. While many people liked Devender’s commentary, a lot of them also made fun of him. But he did not care. He was engrossed in his passion. He had to become an international commentator.
Devender says the trend continued for the next ten years. He would wake up at 3am and listen to a radio programme called ‘Voice of America‘ to learn English. After this, he would walk to the stadium which was an hour from his house, at 5am, and observe the different games and commentate on them.
“This became my daily routine. I didn’t care about Diwali or Holi, summer or rain,” Devender says. “I would go to the stadium and wherever I saw a game taking place, I would start doing my commentary. Some people used to make fun of me, some even called me ‘crazy’, but some people also liked my commentary. I started getting some work because of this.
“Then people organising tournaments in Jaipur started calling me for commentary and I used to get INR 500 per day in return. Even if I would get work for three or four days, it would be enough to meet my monthly expenses because the rent for the room I lived in was only INR 500 per month. The remaining money was enough to cover my other expenses.”
Gradually, Devender began getting work outside of school and local tournaments in Akashvani, All India Radio and even Doordarshan Jaipur. He also started doing radio dispatches for Ranji Trophy matches held in Jaipur and got commentary gigs for polo matches held in Jaipur for DD Sports.
Devender still gets emotional remembering that day. “I couldn’t believe that I was sitting in the commentary box where Tony Greig served Sachin’s Desert Storm to the world,” he says. “It took me an innings to sink it all in and only when I was going for the commentary in the second innings, I felt that a dream of mine had come true. That is when I posted on my social media, ‘I am making my international cricket debut’.”
Today, Devender is the voice of Afghanistan cricket. Since 2016, he has done commentary on almost every international match that Afghanistan have been a part of. He has no professional cricketing background but has the experience of commentating in over 100 international matches. Apart from the international games, Devender also does commentary in Afghanistan’s domestic 50-over and T20 tournaments. He travels to Kabul every year for those and is also called the ‘Voice of Kabul’. Devender has now visited Kabul several times and says the city is a “second home” for him.
“When I first got the offer to go to Kabul, people were asking me a lot of questions, but I was clear,” he says when asked about the political situation in Afghanistan. “I can go anywhere for my job because I love it immensely. I had no doubts about going to Kabul.
After Tendulkar’s retirement in 2013, Devender’s dream of commenting on his batting remained unfulfilled. But he does not want any of his other dreams to remain unfulfilled. He now wants to move to other sports and is confident of fulfilling that dream of his as well.
Daya Sagar is the sub-editor in ESPNcricinfo’s hindi desk
