It is the commentators that bring you closer to the game. Now, imagine watching a cricket match at home without any commentary. It would be a dull experience for sure. With the biggest cricket extravaganza around the corner, ICC has revealed a 24-member panel that would commentate during the course of the event.
There is some Indian interest as well as former cricketers Sourav Family and Sanjay Manjrekar have been named in the ICC’s commentary panel for the World Cup. Besides the cricketers, Harsha Boggle has also been named among the three Indians in the list of commentators for the World Cup.
There is representation from almost all the nations. The coveted panel also has former Australian batsman Micheal Clarke, who lifted the 2015 World Cup as captain, will be making his World Cup commentary debut along with another Aussie Micheal Slater. Two Pakistanis in Wasim Akram and Rameez Raza. One from Srilanka (Kumara Sangakara), Zimbabwe (Pommie Mbangwa) and Bangladesh (Athar Ali Khan) are also there.
The panel also has three women. Former England cricketer Isha Guha, former Australian cricketer Melanie Jones and English commentator Alison Mitchell are also part of the elite commentators for the cricket World Cup.
Former England captain Nasser Hussain said in the announcement release, “The whole of England and Wales is buzzing with excitement in anticipation of the massive summer of cricket ahead. This edition of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup promises to be the most entertaining one yet and I can not wait to be part of this event broadcast and witness history in the making, first hand.”
The 2019 World Cup is going to be one of the most fiercely contested affairs With the tournament set to be conducted in the round-robin format- where each of the ten teams will take on each other at least once.
The top four teams from the league stage will qualify for the knockouts. Several formers cricketers and experts have put their weight behind hosts England thus time around, terming the Eoin Morgan led side as one of the favourites for the ultimate crown.