He described the game as he saw it. And he saw it with the eyes of a keen student of the game, not missing out little details like a change in the field settings. He literally gave you a ring-side view. Dr. Narottam Puri’s mellifluous voice was an added attraction to follow cricket on the radio.

Dr. Puri was immensely respected by the players and also young cricket journalists who would flock to hear his stories from the past. Many, like me, would confirm a dismissal from him because Dr. Puri was always spot on. “Missing leg, hit the bat, did not nick,” were simple responses that would guide us in tricky dismissals during days when the luxury of TV replays was not available.

A reputed radio and television commentator, Dr. Puri conducted a popular quiz for Doordarshan for 18 years. He is currently involved as advisor with Fortis Healthcare and Indian Medical Academy.

Dr. Puri is not known to give interviews but he makes an exception for SPORTSTAR as he reflects on his cricket journey.

Excerpts:

Q) Your earliest memories of cricket?

A) It’s always a pleasure interacting with you and a very happy coincidence that you called me on a day when I was just going through some of the old recordings of Don Bradman and the various greats of Australian cricket and just looking at YouTube because there’s very little to do otherwise at home. Yes. I think radio commentary as you’ve described is not as popular today because of the availability of television. But let me just remind everyone that 1922 was the first ever radio broadcast of a cricket match. And it was for Charles Bannerman’s Testimonial. That was the first time that radio was used to broadcast a cricket match. The commentator was a gentleman by the name of Lionell Watt. Five years later, the Essex vs. New Zealand game was broadcast and the commentator was former England player Plum Warner. And for some reason after that, BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) did not pursue it very actively.

Q) When did radio commentary make its debut in India?

A) 1934 is the first time that a match was broadcast in India, from Bombay Gymkhana. It was, I think, Pentangular or Quadrangular, between Muslims and Parsees and Bobby Talyarkhan was the commentator. My association with cricket commentary dates back to 1948 because my father was chosen as one of the commentators for India-West Indies series, and I believe I watched that match from my mother’s lap. Obviously I have no memory of it, I was too young to remember it. But from then onwards, cricket and cricket commentary became kind of a dining room conversation for me, because my father played for India – one unofficial Test match and plenty of Ranji Trophy, Pentangulars, etc. – so cricket was in the family. My uncle (my father’s younger brother) played Ranji Trophy too. And it was a kind of fodder for a young person’s ear to always have cricket being discussed. And obviously, one started falling in love as one started playing it as well. And during those days, my father was still playing Ranji Trophy and he represented five states and then you got to meet a lot of cricketers who were greats of their own time because they were friends of my father and they dropped in at home and so was the case with some great commentators like Berry Sarbadhikari, Pearson Surita, and therefore, you know, my love for the sport continued to grow. The Hindu’s sports chief at that time was S. K. Gurunathan. Guru uncle, as we used to call him, was a frequent visitor to our house. And I think this love for cricket, the love for reading about it, writing about it, and describing it subconsciously entered some part of my brain and remained active.

Q) When did you get to hear commentary from close quarters?

A) When I got an opportunity to go with my dad to the All India Radio studios. Those days a lot of sports broadcasts used to take place. And they were 10 minute long. A lot of people will not know about the General Overseas Service, GOS, as it was called, it’s broadcast outside India. And there were also sports broadcasts at primes slots like 9 pm. And therefore, one started learning how to control the number of words, within that time span that was available to you and to be able to express what you wanted to express within that time frame. Also the value of time, when to start, when to end. So I think these were important life lessons as well. And I guess I was lucky in being able to see this, watch this, hear this happen right in front of my eyes. And because of the fact that, I guess, I was always available in All India Radio during the sojourns that my dad made there.

Q) How did you get your break?

A) I guess an opportunity came when they were looking for a scorer. It was a London Schoolboys team visiting India and All India Radio was doing a broadcast of that match. I was booked as a scorer. So that was my first paycheck as a schoolboy. 15 rupees per day and also a great opportunity to watch a match from where I became very accustomed to watching. That is from the commentators’ box. It sort of grew and before I realized that I had got too deeply into it. I was good enough to play up to the university level, but being a medical guy, cricket those days used to be four and five day matches and cricket and my studies couldn’t go hand in hand. So these opportunities I got gave me an chance to kind of stay connected to the game, even as a doctor, but I couldn’t pursue it as a player beyond the university days. Of course, club cricket remained an active space for me. So the association has been there right throughout.