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Thoughts on Athar Ali Khan's commentary?

There was fernando from Sl back in the day, who was equally drone like and put you to sleep, ,much like bazaid khan - but AAK is the tops...
cant believe this thread is on from 2011...
 
Thing about Athar is that even his command over the English language is quite poor. Being a partisan commentator with zero insight who pretty much blurts out the first thing that comes to his mind is bad enough. But his inability to effectively articulate his thoughts just compounds all those things.
 
I mentioned this in another thread.

The standard of commentary has gone downhill badly in recent times.

Most are cheerleaders with very tactical awareness about cricket. Many have no game awareness or have much knowledge about the technical side of the game, which means that they just talk non-stop rubbish just to make themselves feel relevant.

I met Richie Benaud in a press box un the UK and asked him what was the key to being a good commentator, his response was "only open your mouth if you have something relevant to say, otherwise keep quiet"

What a player and commentator he was. I absolutely adored his commentary in Test.
 
Was arguing with the other guy in commbox who was just providing commentary for the last over. Embarrassing.
 
Why wasn’t pak presented with the trophy in the end? Did Athar Ali khan run away with it.
 
Were these guys commentating using potatoes that they had to yell so loudly?
 
He's the type who has learnt a lot of different English expressions and throws them out at all times to try and come across as smart. One example from yesterday was when an edge (from Haider Ali I think) went for 4 and he was saying "fortune favors the brave". There was absolutely nothing "brave" about the shot. It was an orthodox cover drive attempted to a ball outside off stump, a shot you'd expect most batsmen to play to that ball in any T20 game. As a commentator you need to be good with words and understand what you're saying. This guy has no clue, he just waffles.

And then to the bias. It's so insufferable. Of course you're allowed to be patriotic but good commentators have the basic understanding that they're working on a worldwide feed so that they have to have a slightly balanced approach to their commentary. Not this bloke though. Every time his country hit a boundary or take a wicket it's time to go into overdrive. Every time the opposition does it he pretends it didn't happen. Unbelievably bad commentator.
 
This guy has always been terrible but his recent need to try and be overly dramatic is just cheap.
Having said that, who is a good commentator these days? Certainly none from Asia, Bhogle is horrible, the ex Indian players are just cheerleaders, the only Pakistanis I hear are Bazid or Wasim, now with Rameez gone...world wide we have Athers who is terrific but we have lost Gower and Holding.
 
This guy has always been terrible but his recent need to try and be overly dramatic is just cheap.
Having said that, who is a good commentator these days? Certainly none from Asia, Bhogle is horrible, the ex Indian players are just cheerleaders, the only Pakistanis I hear are Bazid or Wasim, now with Rameez gone...world wide we have Athers who is terrific but we have lost Gower and Holding.

Anjum Chopra is the best for me.
 
His commentary during the final over:

<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.154%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/e/txv1ov" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="100%" allowfullscreen style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;"></iframe></div>
 
Anjum Chopra is the best for me.

No she is not. She is absolutely horrible. I remember during this world t20 or another series, she was asked questions about domestic up and comers in India and did not have a clue...so why have her commentate if she can't even provide any insight or be bothered to research?
 
His commentary during the final over:

<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.154%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/e/txv1ov" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="100%" allowfullscreen style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;"></iframe></div>

Whoever he is, I think it’s fantastic, Bengali Jim Ross :))
 
No she is not. She is absolutely horrible. I remember during this world t20 or another series, she was asked questions about domestic up and comers in India and did not have a clue...so why have her commentate if she can't even provide any insight or be bothered to research?

I beg to differ. She always adds value with her comments and she has a voice very much suited to commentary. I would probably put her near the top of the list in terms of commentary. Possibly on the same level as Hussain and Athers.
 
"Runs are of mighty importance"

Exceptional bit of commentary from Athar Ali Khan.
 
Abid Ali plays a good shot at the third man on a short ball for a boundary.

Athar Ali Khan: Bowler allowed batsman to play this shot.
 
Watched only todays session.

My god, him and Shamim are sooo heavily biased. During the whole time, they were commentating the match situation as if Bangladesh will get away with it and the pressure is on Pakistan.

The umpires had said that 20-25 overs would be played, but the commentators were acting as if play will end after one over.

Shaheen coming in to bowl, and the commies are ranting oh look they are brining in a pace bowler, the umpire will have to stop play now. After shaheen bowls one ball, they might stop it... Shaheen bowls and no one intervenes.

Than the last wicket, the commentator is like no no it is going down leg, the review will help Bangladesh because time will get wasted and the meters will be out. The ball was not even clipping it was hitting on the full of leg stump.

When the game is played on the final day's last session, by the last hour, the minimum overs to be bowled has to be told by the umpire....

These bangaldeshi commies had created a match scenario which was way different than what we were seeing ridiculous. At one point even I was panicking that maybe play was about to end.
 
Watched only todays session.

My god, him and Shamim are sooo heavily biased. During the whole time, they were commentating the match situation as if Bangladesh will get away with it and the pressure is on Pakistan.

The umpires had said that 20-25 overs would be played, but the commentators were acting as if play will end after one over.

Shaheen coming in to bowl, and the commies are ranting oh look they are brining in a pace bowler, the umpire will have to stop play now. After shaheen bowls one ball, they might stop it... Shaheen bowls and no one intervenes.

Than the last wicket, the commentator is like no no it is going down leg, the review will help Bangladesh because time will get wasted and the meters will be out. The ball was not even clipping it was hitting on the full of leg stump.

When the game is played on the final day's last session, by the last hour, the minimum overs to be bowled has to be told by the umpire....

These bangaldeshi commies had created a match scenario which was way different than what we were seeing ridiculous. At one point even I was panicking that maybe play was about to end.

Yeah he said something about how i was great fightback from Bangladesh despite the fact they were 19 wickts down in 4 sessions of cricket lol.

Also that it's a great advert for test match cricket!!!!
 
Excruciating commentary as usual and I only watched the 10 min highlights clip! Full of the usual cliches and every boundary treated like it's a match winning effort. Awful, biased commentators.

Incidentally - it made me think of the great commentators we are sadly missing. My favourite Richie Benaud commentary clip:

Derek Pringle is about to bowl to Gordon Greenidge.

Benaud: "Pringle Comes"

Greenidge smashes the ball with disdain to the boundary.

Benaud: "And Pringle goes!"

Genius.
 
Let’s be honest,

We are happy to let him off the hook and enjoy is patriotism as long as Bangladesh suck as a cricket team. The moment they start to win and Athar is running rampant verbally, he will be the most hated man in cricket
 
This made me laugh hard

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Congratulations Team Pakistan &#55356;&#56821;&#55356;&#56816; Well played despite odd weather and … commentary!</p>— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) <a href="https://twitter.com/CMShehbaz/status/1468539498334232578?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 8, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
He is the worst commentator ever along with other Bangladeshi guy Shamim or whatever his name is.
 
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Well this series will probably be remembered for memeworthy commentary rather than the standard of cricket or competition.
 
Got to feel for Athar, he’s been through so much pain in the past year or so, he deserved to be in the commentary box for this historic test victory.
 
Mushfiq's stats show up.
Avge: 19
Strike Rate: 115

Athar Ali Khan: "Have a look at those numbers."

Wasim Akram: "I beg your pardon, that Strike rate is not so good."
 
Mushfiq's stats show up.
Avge: 19
Strike Rate: 115

Athar Ali Khan: "Have a look at those numbers."

Wasim Akram: "I beg your pardon, that Strike rate is not so good."

Wasim Akram today:

“That’s a big shot! Fine leg is in the air!!”
 
Forget his reaction to that dismissal, he is simply intolerable overall. The only reason he gets in is because he's the only one that can represent BD.

Would BD fans actually mind if the coverage had no BD commies ?. Would that actually be worse than listening to him?
 
At least he doesn’t sell his country down the river like Ramiz used to
 
He is no worse than Bazid Khan who always sounds like he is high on something.
 
If you are the only voice for your country in a world where the big boys have 4-5 mouth pieces, YOU BACK YOUR COUNTRY!

Rameez Raja used to be our lone voice and he used to mock us more than praise us in the commentary box! I would take Athar any day of the week over dis loyal sub continent commentators!
 
Probably the worst commentator out there.

Doesnt even pretend to be unbiased.
 
Awful commentator and the fact that he isn't really proficient with English makes it worse.
 
Not a good commentator at all. You can support your own team, like Bazid and rest do, but you become a joke when you start complaining like he does and you hardly hear him appreciate opposition players.

He actually was decent in the last series, but was back to his usual worst today.
 
He commentated for more than 50% of the match. Not once did I hear him acknowledge the presence of Pakistani players let alone praise them in any way, shape or form. All he does is talk about his boys in an extremely biased manner. I don't know how can anyone employee such a biased and incompetent person.
 
"Catch was taken from hands, while it was foot that touched the boundary. Its unfair to declare it a six." - Athar Ali Khan
 
It's his voice I can't stand. It's not exactly soothing on the ears is it? :))
 
He is the most partisan cheerleader of his team. Sometimes you can understand the cheering if the team wins a tight game but he's also their chief crier. His crying after Shakib's wicket was outrageous and funny at the same time. Need to keep his composure. I don't care about his English. It's not his first language and people can understand him so it's a non issue.
 
He is bad but other Bangladeshi commentators are worse.

He is the best commentator Bangladesh have for now.
 
Mushfiq fields the ball at the boundary and he starts reading out his batting stats. Says, he is an excellent ambassador of the game.
 
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