Dubai: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCC) has finalised seven Indian commentators for the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
And the most notable omission from the list is former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar. The former cricketer-turned-commentator was a part of the IPL commentary panel since the inaugural season in 2008 but has missed out this time around.
The seven commentators who have been picked for the world-feed broadcast are Sunil Gavaskar, L Sivaramakrishnan, Murali Kartik, Deep Dasgupta, Rohan Gavaskar, Harsha Bhogle and Anjum Chopra.
Dasgupta and Kartik have been placed in the panel for Abu Dhabi matches while the rest have been placed in the panels for Dubai and Sharjah games. Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Dubai are the three venues for this year’s IPL.
Dubai and Abu Dhabi will host 21 games each with Sharjah getting 14 games of the league stage. The venue for the playoff has not been finalised yet.
The commentators will be divided into three panels and will be placed in two bubbles – one in Dubai and one in Abu Dhabi. The commentators will leave for UAE on September 10.
Dasgupta and Kartik were to leave for Abu Dhabi on Friday but with the UAE government relaxing the quarantine period from 14 to seven days, the two will fly with the rest.