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The Indian Premier League (IPL) has been a witness to a number of thrilling matches over the last 15 seasons. While some games were one-sided affairs, many of them went right down to the wire. The cash-rich T20 league is now set for its 16th edition, which is scheduled to get underway on March 31. Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans will lock horns in the tournament opener at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Even as action on the field is what we mostly remember, one shouldn’t underestimate the role commentators have played over the years in the league. A five-wicket haul or a century scored is always pleasing to the eye. But what adds to the excitement and thrill is a beautiful piece of commentary. That’s where a number of renowned personalities from around the world have lent their voices to one of the most popular tournaments around the world.
This article is about taking you down the memory lane to some of the most beautiful moments of the IPL and showing the importance of roles played by the commentators.
IPL Commentators in 2016
2016 witnessed a number of things that didn’t happen in the IPL before. Although Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) didn’t win the IPL that season, their skipper bagged most of the limelight. Kohli almost became the first batter to score 1000 runs in a single edition of the T20 tournament. Kohli scored 973 runs at an average of 81.08.
After six more seasons, not batter has been able to come close to breaking that record. He also set the record of most centuries (4) in a single IPL season, which was only equalled by Rajasthan Royals’ Jos Buttler last time around.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) won the IPL for the first time under the leadership of David Warner, who is now set to lead the Delhi Capitals in 2023. Ben Cutting played a handy cameo and that turned out to be crucial in the context of the final at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
Mustafizur Rahman, who played a crucial role in Bangladesh’s ODI series win over India in 2015, became the Emerging Player of IPL 2016. To describe the moments, plenty of big names, including Sunil Gavaskar, Adam Voges, Sunil Gavaskar were there.
IPL Commentators in 2017
20 commentators were picked to ply their trade in the 2017 edition of the IPL. They are Ravi Shastri, Sunil Gavaskar, Danny Morrison, Michael Hussey, Matthew Hayden, Brett Lee, Brendon Julien, Scott Styris, Pommie Mbangwa, Simon Doull, Kevin Pietersen, Sanjay Manjrekar, Michael Clarke, Anjum Chopra, Isa Guha, Lisa Sthalekar, Melanie Jones, Murali Kartik, and Daren Ganga.
It was one of the two seasons when the Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings didn’t take part in the tournament after they were handed a two-year-ban. Their suspension meant that Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiant got a chance to play in the IPL. RPS failed to qualify for the playoffs in 2016, but finished as the runners-up under the leadership of Steve Smith.
It was also was the only season when MS Dhoni didn’t lead an IPL team. The final turned out to be an exciting as both RPS and Mumbai Indians (MI) strained every sinew. In the end, MI came up trumps by one run. It was also the third time Rohit Sharma’s men won the IPL.
2017 was also the season when Ben Stokes made a name for himself in the IPL. He won the award for the Most Valuable Player after he scored a hundred against Suresh Raina’s Lions in Pune. From there on, Stokes didn’t look back and went on to become a stalwart.
IPL Commentators in 2018
2018 was the first season when the IPL was broadcasted in six different languages. Ravi Shastri, Sunil Gavaskar, Danny Morrison, Michael Hussey, Matthew Hayden, Brett Lee, Brendon Julien, Scott Styris, Pommie Mbangwa, Simon Doull, Anjum Chopra, Isa Guha, Lisa Sthalekar, Melanie Jones, Murali Kartik, and Daren Ganga formed the English commentary panel.
Ravi Shastri, Sunil Gavaskar, Danny Morrison, Michael Hussey, Matthew Hayden, Brett Lee, Brendon Julien, Scott Styris, Pommie Mbangwa, Simon Doull, Anjum Chopra, Isa Guha, Lisa Sthalekar, Melanie Jones, Murali Kartik, and Daren Ganga were the Hindi IPL 2022 commentators.
2018 was the season when the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) made an incredible comeback in the IPL. They beat Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the final to win the IPL for the third time. Shane Watson smashed a hundred in the final at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai to set up the match for the Yellow Army.
The 2018 would also be remembered for the reason that David Warner and Steve Smith were left out after the controversy they were involved in the Test match against South Africa at the Newlands in Cape Town. While Kane Williamson led the Sunrisers in Warner’s absence, Ajinkya Rahane was named the skipper of the Royals.
IPL Commentators in 2019
Sanjay Manjrekar, Simon Doull, Sunil Gavaskar, Mathew Hayden, Brendon McCullum, Ian Bishop, Danny Morrison, Brett Lee, Kevin Pietersen, Michael Clarke, Murali Kartik, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, Pommie Mbangwa, Anil Kumble and Kumar Sangakkara were the part of the English commentary panel in IPL 2019.
Akash Chopra, Jatin Sapru, Nikhil Chopra, Gautam Gambhir, Irfan Pathan, Rudra Pratap Singh, VVS. Laxman, Abhishek Nayyar, Naman Ojha, Krishnamachari Srikanth, Sunil Gavaskar and Virender Sehwag were the Hindi commentators in the mega event.
It was the season when Mumbai Indians (MI) became the most successful team in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Rohit Sharma’s men defeated Chennai Super Kings in the final at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad by one run. Shane Watson played a masterful knock with a bloodied knee, but his valiant efforts couldn’t pay dividends.
Lasith Malinga trapped Shardul Thakur in front to close out the match. It was also the last time Malinga took part in the IPL. He bowed out as the leading wicket-taker, along veteran Dwayne Bravo went past him later.
Andre Russell of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won the award for the Most Valuable Player after he became the leading run-scorer and the top wicket-taker for his team. But to his sheer dismay, the Men in Gold and Purple failed to advance to the playoffs. Dinesh Karthik took the team to the Qualifier 2 in 2018, but couldn’t take them to the second round in 2019.
IPL Commentators in 2020
Harsha Bhogle, Simon Doull, Ian Bishop, Michael Slater, Danny Morrison, Deep Dasgupta, Rohan Gavaskar, Pommie Mbangwa, Darren Ganga, L Sivaramakrishnan, Murali Kartik, Sunil Gavaskar, Kevin Pietersen, Anjum Chopra, Lisa Sthalekar, Mark Nicholas, Kumar Sangakkara and JP Duminy formed a part of the English commentary panel in IPL 2020.
Aakash Chopra, Irfan Pathan, Gautam Gambhir, Ashish Nehra, Nikhil Chopra, Sandeep Patil, Sanjay Bangar, Ajit Agarkar and Kiran More were the ones, who took charge of the Hindi commentary panel.
2020 was a special season for the Mumbai Indians (MI), who became the first team to win the IPL five times in a row. They also became the second team after the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to successfully defend their title. In the final, MI defeated Shreyas Iyer’s Delhi Capitals (DC).
The IPL was scheduled to take place in the month of April and May, but had to be postponed until September due to the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic. Matches took place at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
2020 also witnessed the first time when CSK failed to advance to the playoffs of the IPL. MS Dhoni’s men finished with three wins in a row, but they weren’t enough to take them into the top four by the end of the league stage. It was the second time when the IPL took place outside India after 2009 when the IPL was staged in South Africa.
IPL Commentators 2021
The IPL 2021 commentators included the likes of Harsha Bhogle, Sunil Gavaskar, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, Murali Kartik, Deep Dasgupta, Anjum Chopra, Ian Bishop, Alan Wilkins, Mbangwa, Nicholas Knight, Danny Morrison, Simon Doull, Matthew Hayden and Kevin Pietersen.
Aakash Chopra, Irfan Pathan, Gautam Gambhir, Nikhil Chopra, Parthiv Patel, Tanya Purohit, Kiren More, Jatin Sapru and Suren Sundaram were among the commentators for IPL 2021. Muthuraman R, RK, Bhavna, RJ Balaji, S Badrinath, Abhinav Mukund, S Ramesh, Nanee & K Srikkanth were the Tamil commentators. Commentators in Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, Telugu and Bengali were also there during the 2021 IPL.
The first half of IPL 2021 took place on Indian soil, but it was halted after cases of Covid-19 were found inside the team camps. The tournament was thereby postponed until September and was moved out of India to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings played in the final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. In the end, it was CSK, who won the title for the fourth time. The second half of IPL 2021 was also a witness to the rise of Venkatesh Iyer, who would later go on to play for the Indian team in limited-overs cricket.
IPL Commentators 2022
Harsha Bhogle, Sunil Gavaskar, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, Mpumelelo Mbangwa, Ian Bishop, Graeme Smith, Graeme Swann, Kevin Pietersen, Murali Kartik, Deep Dasgupta, Anjum Chopra, Danny Morrison, Morne Morkel, Simon Doull, Matthew Hayden, Nicholas Knight, Rohan Gavaskar, Alan Wilkins, WV Raman, Daren Ganga were the ones responsible for global feed commentary in IPL 2022.
Jatin Sapru, Mayanti Langer Binny, Tanya Purohit, Anant Tyagi, Neroli Meadows, Suren Sundaram, Aakash Chopra, Nikhil Chopra, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Ravi Shastri, Suresh Raina, Piyush Chawla, Mohammed Kaif, Dhawal Kulkarni were the ones, who commentated in English and Hindi. Notably, Raina also delivered the IPL auction 2022 live commentary and was among the IPL Hindi commentators 2022. Meanwhile, stalwarts Nayan Mongia and Irfan Pathan were part of the team responsible for the Gujarati commentary in IPL 2022.
The 2022 edition of the IPL took place with 10 teams. Two new teams, Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans took part in the mega event. While the Titans were led by Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul was the skipper of the Super Giants.
In the final, the Titans defeated Sanju Samson’s Rajasthan Royals at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Hardik Pandya became the Player of the Match in the final after he picked up three crucial wickets and scored useful runs.
Two of the most successful teams in the Indian Premier League, Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings failed to advance to the playoffs. In fact, they were the first two teams to get knocked out of the championship. Two-time IPL champions, Kolkata Knight Riders couldn’t make it through to the next round either.
The Royals had a great chance of winning their second IPL title and playing tribute for Australian great Shane Warne, who passed away due to a suspected heart attack earlier this year. But they faltered at the final hurdle against the Titans.
Conclusion
All in all, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (ICC) and the IPL Governing Council have done an excellent job in making sure that the audience across the world are thoroughly entertained. The quality of commentators and players taking part in the tournament has been outstanding, to say the least. There isn’t a dull moment during the IPL and it’s a reason behind the massive popularity of the game.
Back in 2015, the IPL introduced female commentators for the first time. Mel Jones, Anjum Chopra and Isha Guha were among the four female commenters, who took part that year. Since the first match between RCB and the Knight Riders where Brendon McCullum took the bowlers to the cleaners, the IPL has only grown in stature.
The fandom of the IPL is pretty evident from the massive viewership garnered on television channels and OOT platform. Back in 2021, the 27th game became the most-watched IPL mid-season match ever in Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) history.
The list of commentators has already been named for the upcoming edition of the T20 league. More than 70 commentators will be charge for the next eight weeks or so. Overall, one can expect an entertaining journey. Recently, the inaugural Women’s Premier League (WPL) took place and the level of commentary was top notch.
