The Indian commentator who is now the voice of Afghanistan cricket
Jodhpur’s Devender Kumar does commentary not only in international Afghanistan games but also their domestic fixtures
Daya Sagar13-Sep-2024In 1998, during Desert Storm innings, when a 10-year-old Devender Kumar heard this piece of commentary by Tony Greig on the six Sachin Tendulkar smashed off Michael Kasprowicz, he was dazzled. Greig’s voice attracted him so much that Devender decided commentary would be his career path.”One day I was flicking channels when I heard this piece of commentary on air,” Devender tells ESPNcricinfo on the sidelines of the washed out Afghanistan-New Zealand Test in Greater Noida. “I was attracted to Tony Greig’s voice and the rhythm of his commentary. I felt like this was something special and I should take it up.”After this, I started practising commentary for hours. My father was in the Army and had an analog radio that played both short and medium wave-length radio stations. I used to listen to commentary from all sports, not just cricket, and then repeat this exercise for hours.”This commentary journey, however, was not at all easy for Devender, who hails from Chutarpura, a small village in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. He neither spoke English nor had any sports background. Apart from this, he did not know what he had to do to become a commentator. He practised every day by listening to news and commentary on the radio. He loved the three-hour weekly ” programme on the BBC, through which he got to listen to commentators like John Murray and Alan Green on various sports, including football and tennis.Devender Kumar also does commentary on Afghanistan’s domestic games•Special Arrangement”Through this show, I used to get news from sports the world over every Saturday and Sunday,” Devender says. “In the beginning, I couldn’t even understand what they were saying, because I didn’t know English at all. But their way of talking, the rhythm of their voice, all this attracted me a lot.”Gradually, I started reading English newspapers which improved my vocabulary and I could understand what they were saying. Due to this, my interest in sports and commentary increased and now it has become a 24-hour job.”During this time, Devender also did a nursing course after completing school. After the course, he got a job offer in the USA, but he turned it down because he wanted to pursue commentary full-time. This happened in 2006, in the second half of Tendulkar’s career. Devender just had to commentate on at least one Tendulkar games before his retirement. A job in the USA may have stopped him from achieving this dream.To pursue his dream, Devender came to Jaipur from Jodhpur. He felt that after coming to the capital of his state, his path would become easier and within six months he would start commentating in international matches. But the process to the top was a long and arduous one.Devender used to go to the Sawai Mansingh Stadium every day. Whenever he saw any game going on, he would sit there, roll the newspaper as a mic and start commentating. He practised commentary on many sports including cricket, football, tennis, basketball, handball, volleyball, karate, kabaddi and horse polo. While many people liked Devender’s commentary, a lot of them also made fun of him. But he did not care. He was engrossed in his passion. He had to become an international commentator.Devender says the trend continued for the next ten years. He would wake up at 3am and listen to a radio programme called ” to learn English. After this, he would walk to the stadium which was an hour from his house, at 5am, and observe the different games and commentate on them.”This became my daily routine. I didn’t care about Diwali or Holi, summer or rain,” Devender says. “I would go to the stadium and wherever I saw a game taking place, I would start doing my commentary. Some people used to make fun of me, some even called me ‘crazy’, but some people also liked my commentary. I started getting some work because of this.Devender Kumar with Pashto commentators Fazal Rahimi and Sharafuddin Shakir in Kabul•Devendra Kumar”Then people organising tournaments in Jaipur started calling me for commentary and I used to get INR 500 per day in return. Even if I would get work for three or four days, it would be enough to meet my monthly expenses because the rent for the room I lived in was only INR 500 per month. The remaining money was enough to cover my other expenses.”Gradually, Devender began getting work outside of school and local tournaments in , All India Radio and even Doordarshan Jaipur. He also started doing radio dispatches for Ranji Trophy matches held in Jaipur and got commentary gigs for polo matches held in Jaipur for DD Sports.In 2009, when the now-defunct Champions League T20 was held in India, Lalit Modi, the then IPL chairman who was associated with the Rajasthan Cricket Association, saw Devender’s passion for commentary and sent him to Delhi for an internship. There he met Alan Wilkins for the first time and Wilkins became Devender’s mentor. During this time, Devender also met many other commentators and when the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) needed a commentator, one of them suggested Devender’s name to the board.He was signed up and as luck would have it, his first stint was an ODI match between Ireland and Afghanistan on December 5, 2017 in Sharjah.Devender still gets emotional remembering that day. “I couldn’t believe that I was sitting in the commentary box where Tony Greig served Sachin’s Desert Storm to the world,” he says. “It took me an innings to sink it all in and only when I was going for the commentary in the second innings, I felt that a dream of mine had come true. That is when I posted on my social media, ‘I am making my international cricket debut’.”Today, Devender is the voice of Afghanistan cricket. Since 2016, he has done commentary on almost every international match that Afghanistan have been a part of. He has no professional cricketing background but has the experience of commentating in over 100 international matches. Apart from the international games, Devender also does commentary in Afghanistan’s domestic 50-over and T20 tournaments. He travels to Kabul every year for those and is also called the ‘Voice of Kabul’. Devender has now visited Kabul several times and says the city is a “second home” for him.”When I first got the offer to go to Kabul, people were asking me a lot of questions, but I was clear,” he says when asked about the political situation in Afghanistan. “I can go anywhere for my job because I love it immensely. I had no doubts about going to Kabul.”In fact, once there was a blast at the Kabul Stadium during a domestic T20 game [in 2022]. Many people wanted to call the game off and many international players went home overnight. I not only continued to do commentary in the game but also stayed in Kabul till the end of the tournament. I’m an Army man’s son so these things don’t scare me.”After Tendulkar’s retirement in 2013, Devender’s dream of commenting on his batting remained unfulfilled. But he does not want any of his other dreams to remain unfulfilled. Last year during the Men’s ODI World Cup, he ticked off one of those by calling the India vs Afghanistan match for BBC Test Match Special. He now wants to move to other sports and is confident of fulfilling that dream of his as well.This story was originally published in ESPNcricinfo Hindi and can be read here