When IPL becomes audio entertainment too – Sports News

The introduction of vernacular languages in commentary for Indian Premier League’s cricket matches has been a refreshing turn. Introduced in the 2023 season, Bhojpuri is already a hit and cherished by fans beyond language barriers, as evident from a quick scroll on social media platforms. “IPL commentary in Bhojpuri is the best thing that JioCinema did,” said a user on social media platform X.

JioCinema has inducted 12 Indian regional languages to the IPL cricket commentary in its bouquet that has Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Punjabi, Marathi, and Bengali. Haryanvi has made its debut in this IPL 17th season after the success of Bhojpuri last year. 

Even ‘thala’ Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Chennai Super Kings captain) reportedly commended IPL’s Bhojpuri commentary. Bahut hi gajabe kar rahe hai Bhojpuriya mein (doing exceedingly well in Bhojpuri), he reacted during IPL 2024, as shared by Suresh Raina. 

A Trophy, A Hug, and A Thousand Cheers! Jasprit Bumrah, Sanjana Ganesan’s emotional embrace in Barbados steals millions of hearts

India vs South Africa T20 World Cup 2024 HIGHLIGHTS: India win T20 World Cup 2024! Rohit Sharma & co beat South Africa by 7 runs

Jay Shah’s T20 World Cup prophecy goes viral, Ravi Shastri dubs him ‘Nostradamus’

‘This part of my life is called happiness’ – India’s spectacular T20 World Cup triumph over South Africa BREAKS internet

Tickling the funny bone

The commentary in these two languages borders more on the entertainment side. “If you want to see the beauty of a different Indian language, just switch on to JioCinema and watch IPL with commentary in the local language. Last year, Bhojpuri commentary was a delight and this year RK Kisna’s bombastic Haryanvi commentary is icing on the top (sic),” said a social media user.

In Haryanvi commentary, Hardik Pandya is dubbed as ‘chaudhary’, Rohit Sharma as ‘purana chaudhary’, and Dhoni is ‘sarpanchon ka sarpanch’. A sixer gets commended as ‘ghana kasuta’ (very good) shot and a misfield is apparently gayi bhains paani mein (lost case). The users too cannot keep calm, and declare they aren’t going back to English and Hindi commentary anytime soon. 

Wide audience 

The Bhojpuri commentators include Ravi Kishan, Gulam Hussain, Mohd Saif and Shivam Singh, among others. The Haryanvi panel includes Virender Sehwag, Manvinder Bisla, Sonu Sharma, RJ Kisna, Ravin Kundu, and Preeti Dahiya. JioCinema’s strategy is aimed at reaching a wide audience in a linguistically diverse country like India and ‘going vernacular’ is increasingly becoming a critical marketing strategy to bring the untapped audience onboard. Siddharth Sharma, head of content, JioCinema, was quoted in a news report by the Indian Express, “India is a sum of parts and as a network we believe that we have the ability to reach a wider audience if we are able to reach them and tell stories in their language. It is important for us to create that relatability.”

Sharma explained that each language provides a different flavour. “The Tamil commentary has cricket at its core. The fans in those regions are purists of the game. Bhojpuri language is mostly associated with cinema and music. So there are movie stars in the commentary team,” he said.

The good

Certain terms like “duck”, “maiden over” or “slog sweep” that cricket fans know become relatable when colloquial references are made. Regional language references bring a greater degree of familiarity to the cricket fans. In a 2022 interview to YouTube channel ‘SKB Shots’, cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle had said, “Vernacular language commentary will be the future because you are giving commentary to the people in a language that they understand culturally and the references that they understand better.”

The bad

There has been some backlash as well. Both Bhojpuri and Haryanvi commentators were slammed for indulging in references that the cricket fans deemed as obscene, vulgar and degrading towards women.

The Haryanvi as well as Bhojpuri commentaries had references of misogynistic, body shaming and double-meaning phrases. Former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag was criticised for body shaming in Haryanvi while Bhojpuri commentators were slammed for using double-meaning and offensive language. “This is shameful, in the coming times the reputation of Bhojpuri will fall further due to the actions of these people making very vulgar comments,” a user wrote. Some even called for sacking the commentators.