BHOPAL, 21 October 2005 — With the passing away of noted international cricket commentator J.P. Narayanan, ‘JP’ to friends, the Voice of Cricket has been silenced by death. The Voice of Cricket on All India Radio (AIR) has faded into history. He was among India’s best known English cricket commentators and one of the most passionate ambassadors of Indian cricket.
JP, who died Oct. 5 after a long illness, resisted all temptations and financial rewards to take up cricket commentary on TV because he believed radio was the mass media and radio commentary was a challenge. One had to keep the listener hooked with an in-depth ball-by-ball analysis.
An engineer by profession, JP rose to become general manager in Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Bhopal unit, and headed their publicity and communications department.
He had no air about his stature and was absolutely down to earth, a quality that earned him more friends. As a person he was accessible to all and was always there to lend a helping hand to anyone in trouble — whether he knew them or not. This was the reason that even daily wagers or contract workers from BHEL turned to him for support whenever they had a problem.
Much unlike the contemporary officials, JP had a great affinity towards journalists, whom he considered as his family members.
Born to senior journalist, the late K. P. Narayanan, the pioneer editor of Madhya Pradesh Chronicle, now renamed Central Chronicle, JP learned the art of public relations watching his legendary father. Blessed with a heavy voice and good command of the English language he took to cricket as a full-time hobby.
This writer started his journalistic journey under the watchful eyes of JP’s father K. P. Narayanan who also happened to be his neighbor. This writer and JP both attended St. Joseph’s Convent School at Bhopal in the 60s. JP was a student in the secondary and this writer in the primary classes of the school. Thus, I had the honor to brush shoulders with JP, the six feet plus tall boy, while attending the school by the same bus as we were next door neighbors.
Later on, after I completed my studies and ventured into print media I had the opportunity many a times to cover One Day International matches with JP who was by then an established radio commentator for AIR. Despite a tight schedule in the BHEL factory JP always keenly followed cricket happenings around the globe and had a rational view on every aspect of the game, which even his critics admired. He always looked for an opportunity to be a part of action during Indian cricket team’s matches whether in India or abroad. Having traveled widely with the Indian team he achieved a rare distinction of a century of radio commentary in 100 one-day international matches. He was a part of AIR commentary team for 44 Test matches also.
JP’s passion for the game could be judged by his contribution to nurture talents and budding cricketers from Madhya Pradesh.
He always wanted to prove that the State too can produce good international cricketers and worked tirelessly with the youngsters toward realizing this dream. As a state-level selector he had looked for young talent and encouraged them.
