In Robert Zemeckis’s 1994 epic called the Forrest Gump, there’s a fascinating line based on the titular character, played evocatively and deeply as only Tom Hanks could. It says, ‘Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you gonna get.” The line went on to become a household name, as did the Oscar winning Concord, California-born Tom Hanks. Now truth be told, if one were to view this line sans a Hollywoodian eye, by blending cricket to it, it could point to something just as sweet, albeit on the 22 yards. And if you remove Forrest Gump’s signature cap and add a cricket commentary mic to it, it perhaps becomes the following:
“Life is like a box of suitcases and Suhaas Vedham seems to be living his out of the many!”
There are many in this age of communication hyperbole who are making ends meet by just saying things. And it’s great for them. Purely stating things on a cricket field, but often, not always, lacking a certain sense of style. In many cases, you could simply swipe the names and the style of oratory may simply remain same. Relax, I didn’t – and am no one- to call them dull. You’d much rather bear a Jean Claude Van Damme kick where it hurts the most but not keep up with the ruggedness and a dearth of class, if not its absolute absence in many a cases. And wait, name calling is bad and won’t happen here. But appreciation can, right?
But the above told, a certain Suhaas Vedham stands out.
Born in Chennai to doting, loving parents who have raised in their son one of the sincerest voices of Sports Commentary in India, besides a human who has his heart at the right side, Suhaas Vedham is one of the few reasons left to fall in love with the game again.
A game, which, from where I see, is constantly losing its core essence to shenanigans and this certain boisterousness with which we see cricket being represented. Not necessary anymore to restrict the sport to how its image has been perceived all along- it being a Gentleman’s game- Suhaas Vedham’s voice stands for a certain inclusivity and versatility in expression because of which, I personally feel, Cricket is everyone’s game.
You love the sport, you come play it.
But hey, you have to earn the stripes. But of course.
You want to excel for your country once again whilst wearing the national team jersey in Hong Kong during the Hong Kong Sixes competition, you will hear Suhaas Vedham from behind the mic. Lending perspective to a tournament known for its six bashing penchant. He will go into the stands and speak to the audience and bring out a story that is rooted in reality besides having its pure love for the game.
In another instance, you are in Devabhoomi Uttarakhand and your district or city-based league has this brilliant predecessor to the premier T20 franchise based competition of Uttarakhand itself: the draft. You will see Suhaas Vedham on the stage anchoring and presenting the most critical aspect of the event; which player goes to what team and how. There’ll be a sharp blazer and a neatly ironed trouser, which besides matching the quiet elan of the man who wears them with elegance compliment the commentator’s nicety. And isn’t that what matters at the end of the day; beyond the often cringe sands of commerce and soapy vignettes in which this simple- yet elaborately decorated game- is presented?
Sure, go ahead and package a league how you want and it’s needed. One gets it. Doesn’t need tuition to understand how and where TRP’s come from. But then what about the purist who still looks forward to a clean, unbiased view from someone holding the mic and yet, someone who can hold one’s attention, just as well?
Suhaas Vedham is the answer.
It was February 2024. The venue was the Shaheed Veer Pathik stadium in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The league was, as it still is called, a one-of-a-kind Indian Veteran Premier League, organised avidly and passionately by Mr. Praveen Tyagi (VVIP Builders) of the Board for Veteran Cricket In India (BVCI), and one of the teams passionately part of the event was the VVIP Uttar Pradesh unit, which did eventually go on to win the tournament.
But on Day 2 itself, on the day of my arrival into the stadium in the capacity of a cricket journalist and a friend of the VVIP UP team, something I am hugely grateful for to this day, with the lion’s share of the credit going to Shri Ravindra Tyagi (Krishna Contractors, Raj Nagar, Ghaziabad), I bumped into Suhaas Vedham. That was just our second meeting; the first was the draft ceremony conducted a few months earlier in the city that never sleeps but perhaps also consumes Melatonin: Mumbai. Back then, at the breakfast table, he let me quiz him on his knowledge on Cricket in Bhutan and reflected instantly in his congenial yet sharp style on subjects as diverse as Gerhard Erasmus, the Proteas men’s side and what makes Brian Lara a standout. You know the sort of talks that two cricket obsessed fans who are playing their respective, if also earnest and honest, role with the sport engage in? It’s been eighteen months and more since I first met the curly haired, classical music loving, globe trotting cricket commentator from India who’s also, by the way, adept at covering other sports, such as Pickleball.
But the fire and passion with which he’s grown into his craft and his chosen field of expertise in which he’s rising, is something I regard. As must those hardcore, pure cricket lovers who crave decency and simplicity in times riddled with cacophony.
An age where in the garb of ‘Cricket Presentation’ whilst we do have amazing number crunching fiesta, we also have to bear, let’s face it, mediocre speakers. The ‘commentators’ who rant more whilst adding ever so less of a value to a game that values talent, patience, pertinence and forbearance. Suhaas Vedham, make no mistake, isn’t some god’s gift to mankind. He isn’t. But then his honesty makes the sport often harsh in assessing the unsung ones, seem kind.
He’s done that many a time whether in interacting intentionally and avidly with the logistics manager of a league that most cricket presenters or video content creators may never even think of. He does that by spending time and putting his ideas into practice and extending some fresh perspectives to those who keenly seek his; the amateur but passionate and rising vloggers and cricket presenters whose best days lie ahead.
Having said all the above, here’s a look at the burgeoning resume of a man with an affectionate smile and all the love for a sport he says has given him a purpose to life:
(source: NDTV.com)
State league drafts– Saurashtra , Bengal ( Men & women), Odisha
