Dr Narottam Puri, the ace cricket commentator, will never forget the final of the 1983 world cup cricket final played on June 25, 1983 between India and West Indies. It is not because of India's victory over the powerful Windies that this doctor-turned-commentator will remember this game.
He will never forget it because he made an unpardonable and unprofessional comment during the match which will haunt him throughout his career.
India was bowled out for 183 in 54.4 overs necessitating West Indies to score 184 in 60 overs. It was not a difficult proposition for the mighty Windies to score 3.1 runs per over. When the score was just five runs, Gordon Greenidge was bowled by Balwinder Singh Sandhu. Viv Richards walked in to join Desmond Hayens.
But Doordarshan, which was the only visual medium in the country at that time, had thoroughly underestimated the Indian team led by Kapil Dev They had not rented out the satellite transponder which beamed the live pictures of the game for the full match. What happened was that after the fall of Greenidge's wicket, the live telecast got disrupted.
"Well, with Greenidge and Richards in full command, we can bid farewell the World Cup," said Puri before going off air. It was only midway through the game that the satellite service was restored and the live telecast was resumed. We all saw Kapil's Devils bowling out West Indies for 140 runs. In the celebrations of India winning the first ever world cup, Puri's faux pas was forgotten by viewers.
However, that incident is a good piece of learning to future journalists and commentators not to pre-judge the game of cricket.
The same cardinal sin was committed by 24X7 news channels this Sunday while live telecasting the high pitch campaign for the ouster of N Srinivasan as BCCI president. Indian television's "angry young man" was heard shouting at his reporters and cricket experts 'what the hell is happening in Chennai.' By 1 pm, another sports journalist was heard shouting from Kolkata to his editor-in-chief in Mumbai to relay the captions that Srinivasan has been booted out and Dalmia has taken over.
What happened by 5 pm was there for everybody to see. Channel news is still in a state of infancy in the country. lung power alone will not help us to get the truth. Incidentally, Srinivsan loves vultures and it is said that the vulture is a very patient bird!