The 2021 season of Indian Premier League (IPL) is set to get underway on April 9 in Chennai, with defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) taking on Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the tournament opener.
Ahead of the opening game, Star and Disney India, the official media rights holder and host broadcaster, announced the power-packed squad of 100 commentators for the showpiece event.
Former India cricketers such as Sunil Gavaskar, Gautam Gambhir and Irfan Pathan are among the nine panellists named in the Hindi commentary team for the IPL 2021.
"The popularity of commentary in Hindi has grown over the years and I'm glad to be back for another exciting season of IPL that brings the country together. Each year, as part of the Hindi commentary panel, we try to introduce new elements to keep fans engaged and add to their viewing experience and we will keep the momentum going in this edition too," said Gambhir in a media release issued by the broadcaster.
West Indies batting legend Brian Lara and former Australia speedster Brett Lee are among the five panellists who will feature in the Select Dugout with detailed analytical commentary.
Apart from Lara and Lee, the Select Dugout panel for the IPL 2021 includes former New Zealand batsman Scott Styris and ex-England cricketers Graeme Swann and Dominic Cork.
Fans are in for a treat as cricketing legends like Kevin Pietersen, Dale Steyn, Shane Watson, Ross Taylor, Graeme Smith, among others will join the feed.
"It feels good to be back in the Dugout once again with the best in the business. The brand-new season involves tonnes of the latest innovations in technology and broadcast to provide our viewers with an immersive experience and deliver on the proposition of 'more game per game'," said Lara.
"I am excited about the new format where different IPL legends will be interacting with us remotely during the game," he added.
The commentary will be delivered in eight languages including English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, and Marathi.
On the announcement of the commentary panel, Sanjog Gupta, Head -- Sports, Star and Disney India said, "IPL is back with its 14th season, and we are proud to announce names of the faces who will be part of our commentary panel for the megacast of nine concurrent live IPL feeds that we're delivering.
"We have a rich pool of cricketing experts from across languages joining us this year to amplify the excitement of the match and engage fans. We also believe that the commentary box is no longer restrained by physical boundaries."
List of commentators and presenters for World Feed: Matthew Hayden, Kevin Pietersen, Michael Slater, Danny Morrisson, Ian Bishop, Harsha Bhogle, Simon Doull, Mpumelelo Mbangwa, Daren Ganga, Sunil Gavaskar, Mark Nicholas, Ajit Agarkar, Nick Knight, Deep Dasgupta, Rohan Gavaskar, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, Murli Kartik, Anjum Chopra, Lisa Sthalekar, Mel Jones and Alan Wilkins
Dugout: Scott Styris, Brett Lee, Dominic Cork, Brian Lara, Graeme Swann. Talent joining remotely for few matches as a guest: Kevin Pietersen, Shane Watson, Ross Taylor, Dale Steyn, Nasser Hussain
Hindi: Aakash Chopra, Nikhil Chopra, Gautam Gambhir, Ajit Agarkar, Irfan Pathan, Parthiv Patel, RP Singh, Deep Dasgupta, Sunil Gavaskar.
(With ANI inputs)
