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Magazine
Rare skills
Shashi Tharoor’s “An institution called Johnners” (January 20), sent one down memory lane. What a pity that India, where cricket is virtually a religion, did not produce a single commentator of that quality. Even great cricketers like Vijay Merchant and Lala Amarnath were pathetic as commentators. One wishes writers would come up with similar tributes to Sir Neville Cardus, John Arlott and Allan McGvilray.
Dr. Anil K. Joshi,
Ranikhet, Uttarakhand
Truly, Brian Johnston was an institution. Had BJ been alive today, today’s commentators would elicit only contempt. If Test cricket of those years is remembered with deep nostalgia even in these times of hot ODIs and hotter T20s, it is because of the wonderful commentary by the likes of Brian Johnston and John Arlot. In the 1984 Test series between West Indies and England, the BBC commentary box had Christopher-Martin-Jenkins, Tony Cozier and Brian Johnston, all incomparable broadcasting giants. The explosive cricketing feats of Clive Lloyd’s men in that series were marvellously presented and it was a delight to hear BJ matching his skill with two men much younger than himself.
T.S.Pattabhi Raman,
Coimbatore
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