One Time Pundit
I was invited to be a cricket pundit on Doordarshan for the pre-match show before the ICC World T20 final. Some pertinent observations from the experience.
I made my sports punditry debut today yesterday, as an “expert guest” at the pre-match show for the World Cup T20 final on Doordarshan Chandana (the Kannada channel of India’s national broadcaster).
How it happened
It happened rather suddenly. Late in the afternoon, I was in Indiranagar having beer with some friends from school, when I got a message from a quizzer friend asking if I would be free to be a panelist for the pre-match show in the evening. Lacking an agenda for the evening I said “maybe”.
Soon he had put me across to his friend who does a quiz show for Doordarshan. She called me within five minutes, starting with checking if I could speak Kannada, and then about my availability. “Get to the DD office by 6:30”, she said, “and call this producer whose number I’m sending you now”.
Within five minutes, the producer had called, informing me that the show was at 7:30, and that I should be at the studio by 6:45 “for make up”.
Toit is generally loud enough that when you get a call you don’t need to step away from your table to talk. I quickly told my friends the news. “You need more beer”, one of them quickly said. “The only problem with that is that I have a tendency to slur with too much beer”, I replied, and immediately ordered myself another half pint.
The Prep
I reached the Doordarshan studio at 6:55. It’s a massive building in a massive compound (had I driven, parking would’ve been damn easy). I called the producer who asked me to walk straight in. The security guards waved me on when I told them my name.
The producer greeted me and quickly introduced me to the anchor, who quickly proceeded to take me for makeup. On the way I stopped to wash my face. Like you would expect in a government office, the loo was damn smelly, and there was no hand wash soap.
I learnt that I was the only “guest”. Some ex-first class player had been booked in but he had decided to bunk, and hence the last minute call I got. As I was being made up, the anchor (whose makeup was done before I had arrived) briefed me on the format of the show, and what we would talk about.
There were things out of my comfort zone. I mildly panicked, before realising that I was a one time pundit. That meant it wouldn’t matter at all what I said on air - I was anyway never going to be called back for a second time. I immediately relaxed. I told them what I wanted to talk about. It was agreed that my answers don’t need to precisely correlate with the questions asked!
The Production
While this was my first time doing cricket punditry, this wasn’t my first shot at TV punditry. I had made my debut on that way back in 2018, as a panelist on the Exit Poll show for that year’s Karnataka elections. So I had a template on what a TV studio might be like. Doordarshan was nothing like that.
We first had to wait as the news reader had to finish reading the 7 pm news (our show was at 7:30, remember). We went in at 7:20 or something. Compared to the News9 studio, this was truly bare bones.
There were two cameramen in the room. The backdrop had been placed behind the table. We had to set up our own chairs, and clip our own mics. It was as minimal as it got. I took a hurried selfie as we started.
One Time Pundit
I took full advantage of the fact that I was the only “expert” on the show, and that I was a one-time pundit. Being a one-time pundit frees you up - there is no need to put on a performance because you know that whatever happens it is extremely unlikely that you will get called back. So you can just focus on having fun, and talking what you want to talk.
As you might notice in the above picture, I was fairly tired (one sign of my tiredness is the difference in size between my eyes - this increases as I tire more). This meant there was no ability (or willingness) to put filters in what I was going to say. And so I said things as I felt it, as they are.
With full benefit of hindsight, some of the stuff I said on air didn’t age well. I had a problem with India batting first - that India is generally not a good target setter, and that the Barbados pitch seemed “volatile” (big range of first innings scores there in the tournament) meant chasing was a better idea. I mentioned multiple times that Virat Kohli is out of form and not really suited for T20s, but was undroppable.
From time to time, they would put up some graphics on a “monitor” (smallish TV screen in the studio) and ask me questions around it. Inevitably, the question that the anchor would ask me and what I would say would be uncorrelated! The monitor I was supposed to look at was in a weird position - above the main camera that filmed me. This meant I seldom made eye contact with the camera!
Doordarshan is not on any of the OTTs, and we don’t have cable, and so to catch glimpses of me on TV, my wife and kids went to a neighbour’s house. Based on that she said that I “looked weird” because of where I was looking at during the show. She sent me this video that she took:
I’m not sure I gave answers as long as what the anchor wanted me to, and I sometimes gave answers to multiple questions (including ones not yet asked) at the same time. There was this point where the anchor put up a graphic and asked me to talk through it. “This is completely meaningless”, I countered, and gave a small lesson on reasoning using small samples.
Maybe I finished my talk too quickly, and so the anchor asked me (on air) what a data analyst does, and for instances on how data analysis can be used for deriving strategy in cricket. I struggled a bit to answer in Kannada, but did so anyways!
I had fun. I possibly said a bunch of controversial things, but using polite language. Then again, if nobody heard you say what you said, did you say it at all?
I had posted on different WhatsApp groups (and on my WhatsApp status) about this TV appearance, so some of my friends and relatives actually took pictures of my TV appearance. Here are a couple:
The aftermath
The show finished at 7:59, with the match about to begin. The anchor thanked me and walked off. Again I had to take off my own mic, and as I walked out the camerapersons in the room thanked me as well. After that I left the TV station unmolested - for such a large building there were few people there. I took an auto home, and listened to an awesome podcast on the way (another post on that sometime).
I’ve been told I’ll be paid a nominal amount for this appearance. I don’t know how much yet, but this is one up on News9, which got me for free.
I’ve also been told that the video will not be made available online. Apart from the studio talk, there was other stuff also that was shown as part of the program, and I understand there might be copyright issues if those are put up.
So it goes.