Maharaj turns television host

Everytime he’s out in the middle, an entire nation gets glued to television sets. When he waved out his T-shirt at faraway Lords to celebrate India’s win against England, half of India’s youth brigade back home followed suit. And now you’ll see him entering your homes as co-host of a cricket show for a sports channel.
“This is not just anchoring a show like sports commentators do, there’s more to it,� said the captain of the Indian cricket team who’ll be the first ever playing cricket skipper of the Indian side to be hosting a show when it goes on air later this month.And though he hasn’t yet shot an episode of the show, the Maharaj of Indian cricket is confident about hitting sixes here too.
“I’m not nervous about it, I’ve faced the television camera before and it’s cricket I’ll have to talk about, that’s easy,� he smiled when Calcutta Times caught up with him. But for a man who’s cricketing commitments keep him occupied the year round, it’s his belief in the need for a cricket show to educate the younger generation that has inspired him to take on this avtar. “I think it’s important that the kids who want to take up cricket seriously should know what goes into the making of a Sachin Tendulkar or a Rahul Dravid, and that’s what I want to bring to them.�
The show that’ll have Sourav giving views, comments and presenting games live from various parts of the world might even require him to comment on his own team. Ask him if it’ll be easy to be critical about his own team-mates in public and he swings the googly with elan. “There are various ways to deal with the situation and I will know how to put the criticism in a way that it drives the point home and yet not hurt any sentiments. It’s all about striking the right balance.�
And Maharaj sure knows how to do the balancing act.