Mumbai: With the IPL 2021 right around the corner, Star and Disney India, the official media rights holder and host broadcaster, announced an illustrious panel of 100 commentators for the marquee tournament. The line-up includes an eclectic mix of Regional and English commentators, who will give viewers and fans an option to enjoy the games with live commentary in the language of their choice. The 14th season of the IPL will include some of the best cricketing minds across languages including English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, and the newly added Marathi feed on Disney+ Hotstar.
On the announcement of the commentary panel, Sanjog Gupta, Head – Sports, Star, and Disney India said, “IPL is back with its 14th season, and we are proud to announce names of the faces who will be part of our commentary panel for the mega cast of nine concurrent live IPL feeds that we’re delivering. Our endeavor has been to reach fans across the country, engage with them in the language of their choice and deliver a culturally relevant experience. We have a rich pool of cricketing experts from across languages joining us this year to amplify the excitement of the match and engage fans. We also believe that the commentary box is no longer restrained by physical boundaries. Today we have technology that allows experts from all over the world to log in, contribute to living commentary and bring games to life. This has allowed us to put together arguably the best ever commentary panel for IPL despite restrictions in travel and movement imposed upon us due to the pandemic.”
Select Dugout is back with detailed analytical commentary to create deeper fan engagement with an eminent panel of cricket legends. The Select Dugout panel for the IPL 2021 includes a decorated set of experts – Scott Styris, Brian Lara, Brett Lee, Graeme Swann, and Dominic Cork. Fans are in for a star-studded season with cricketing legends such as Shane Watson, Dale Steyn, Ross Taylor, Graeme Smith, Kevin Pietersen among a host of other experts who will join the feed.
Speaking about the new offering on the Select Dugout this year, Brian Lara said, “It feels good to be back in the Dugout once again with the best in the business. The brand-new season involves tonnes of the latest innovations in technology and broadcast to provide our viewers with an immersive experience and deliver on the proposition of ‘more game per game’. I am excited about the new format where different IPL legends will be interacting with us remotely during the game.”
Former cricketer, Gautam Gambhir, part of the Hindi commentary panel, said, “The popularity of commentary in Hindi has grown over the years and I’m glad to be back for another exciting season of IPL that brings the country together. Each year, as part of the Hindi commentary panel, we try to introduce new elements to keep fans engaged and add to their viewing experience and we will keep the momentum going in this edition too. Every team has its winning mantra and it will be interesting to see the teams battle it out this time for yet another entertaining tournament.”
Former Indian cricketer Vinay Kumar, part of the Kannada commentary panel, said, “IPL is more engaging and thrilling when it is watched in a language one speaks and we are happy with the positive response received on the Kannada commentary. We have players from Karnataka playing in most IPL teams and we will celebrate these local heroes on the Kannada feed. RCB has undergone plenty of changes this season and they have a good chance to qualify for the playoffs.”
Former cricketer Venugopal Rao, part of the Telugu Commentary panel, said, “Telugu commentary amplifies the social, cultural fabric of our region which has been appreciated by viewers and fans alike. I’m glad to be part of this commentary panel that reaches out to Telugu -speaking fans who look forward to IPL every year and celebrate every SRH game like a blockbuster movie. With the addition of Kedar Jadhav, SRH has brought balance to the squad, the presence of David Warner and Kane Williamson for the entire season will keep the energy and momentum going in the SRH camp.”
Former India Captain, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, part of the Tamil commentary panel, said, “Tamil fans in Chennai and around the world are enjoying the commentary in their preferred language and there has been a substantial growth of viewers on Star Sports Tamil over the last few years. I’m glad to continue to entertain CSK lovers and cricket fans along with our robust line-up of commentators for the Tamil feed. CSK did not have the best of the season last year, but don’t count them out. With Thala at the helm of affairs, and the core of the team still together, we can surely see the magic unfold one more time.”
Former cricketer Vinod Kambli, part of the Marathi commentary panel said, “I’m excited to be a part of the Marathi commentary squad for this IPL season. Mumbai Indians have a well-balanced team, and they have performed with ease every season; this season will be no different. Rohit Sharma and his team look ready to compete and are strong contenders to defend the title. I don’t think any of the teams can stand a chance to stop Mumbai Indians from sealing a hattrick win in IPL 2021.”
Former cricketer Sandeep Patil, part of the Marathi commentary panel said, “I’m excited to be a part of the IPL Marathi commentators. It’s been a wonderful experience understanding the nuances and discussing the things in store with my fellow commentators. I am looking forward to offering fellow Maharashtrians a different viewing experience this season. With MI as defending champions, it will be interesting to see their mindset as they step on the field against RCB. MI is one of the strongest sides in the tournament, and the Paltan is looking forward to a record-breaking hat-trick of titles. I’m looking forward to seeing their season unfold”.
Here is the list of commentators & presenters:
WORLD FEED: Matthew Hayden, Kevin Pietersen, Michael Slater, Danny Morrisson, Ian Bishop, Harsha Bhogle, Simon Doull, Mpumelelo Mbangwa, Daren Ganga, Sunil Gavaskar, Mark Nicholas, Ajit Agarkar, Nick Knight, Deep Dasgupta, Rohan Gavaskar, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, Murli Kartik, Anjum Chopra, Lisa Sthalekar, Mel Jones and Alan Wilkins
DUGOUT: Scott Styris, Brett Lee, Dominic Cork, Brian Lara, Graeme Swann. Talent joining remotely for few matches as a guest: Kevin Pietersen, Shane Watson, Ross Taylor, Dale Steyn, Nasser Hussain
HINDI: Aakash Chopra, Nikhil Chopra, Gautam Gambhir, Ajit Agarkar, Irfan Pathan, Parthiv Patel, RP Singh, Deep Dasgupta, Sunil Gavaskar
TAMIL: Abhinav Mukund, Subramaniam Badrinath, HemangBadani, Yo Mahesh, Sadagopan Ramesh, Radhakrishnan Sreenivasan, Muthuraman R, K V Sathyanarayanan, RJ Balaji, Krishnamachari Srikanth, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, and Russel Arnold
KANNADA: Venkatesh Prasad, GK Anil Kumar, Akhil Balachandra, Srinivasa Murthy, Bharat Chipli, Vijay Bharadwaj, Vinay Kumar
TELUGU: Venugopal Rao, Ashish Reddy, MSK Prasad, Kaushik NC, Kalyan Krishna, and SashikantAvulapalli
BENGALI: Ranadeb Bose, Joydeep Mukherjee, Boria Majumdar, SanjeebMukherjea, Saradindu Mukherjee, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Gautam Bhattacharya, and Debashish Datta
MARATHI: Vinod Kambli, Sandeep Patil, Amol Muzumdar, Snehal Pradhan, Kunal Date, Prasanna Sant, and Chaitanya Sant
MALAYALAM: Shiyas Mohammed, Vishnu Hariharan, CM Deepak, Sony Cheruvathur, Tinu Yohannan and Reiphi Gomez
PRESENTERS ACROSS FEEDS: JatinSapru, Neroli Meadows, Sanjana Ganesan, Tanya Purohit, Anant Tyagi, Suren Sundaram, Dheeraj Juneja, Bhavna Balakrishnan, Nashpreet Kaur, Anubhav Jain, Radhakrishnan Sreenivasan, Muthuraman R, M Anand Srikrishna, Vindhya Medapatti, Neha Chowdry, Reena Dsouza, Kiran Srinivasa, Madhu Mailankody
