The International Cricket Council (ICC) on May 24 announced some of the biggest names in cricket and broadcasting, including former India coach Ravi Shastri and the legendary Sunil Gavaskar, as part of a robust commentary panel for next month’s T20 World Cup.
The T20 World Cup will be co-hosted by the USA and the West Indies from June 2 till 29.
Dinesh Karthik, who retired from all forms of cricket after his team Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s IPL campaign, has also been named in the commentary panel list.
Leading the commentary team are stalwarts such as Shastri, Nasser Hussain, Ian Smith, Mel Jones, Harsha Bhogle and Ian Bishop.
Adding to the insights on the modern game, the team will be joined by former men’s and women’s T20 World Cup champions such as Karthik, Ebony Rainford-Brent, Samuel Badree, Carlos Brathwaite, Steve Smith, Aaron Finch and Lisa Sthalekar.
Former 50-over World Cup winners Ricky Ponting, Gavaskar, Matthew Hayden, Ramiz Raja, Eoin Morgan, Tom Moody and Wasim Akram will also be lending their expert analysis to the upcoming tournament.
Making his World Cup debut, American commentator James O’Brien — better known as Jomboy — will aim to add context to the games for the American audiences.
The other big names in the team include Dale Steyn, Graeme Smith, Michael Atherton, Waqar Younis, Simon Doull, Shaun Pollock and Katey Martin alongside renowned cricketing names in broadcasting such as Mpumelelo Mbangwa, Natalie Germanos, Danny Morrison, Alison Mitchell, Alan Wilkins, Brian Murgatroyd, Mike Haysman, Ian Ward, Athar Ali Khan, Russel Arnold, Niall O’Brien, Kass Naidoo and former West Indies skipper Daren Ganga.
ICC will provide extensive coverage of the tournament across the 28 days of action with a pre-match show, an innings interval programme and a post-match wrap-up.
Building on the success of the vertical feed at the ICC men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, ICC TV will introduce an AI-supported vertical feed for the T20 World Cup.
This innovative feature, produced in collaboration with Disney Star, Quidich Innovation Labs, and NEP, will be a first for cricket.
