Zafar Ali Khan is a journalist and acclaimed sports commentator. This man has spent 40 years of his life at Kolkata’s various club tents to meet his professional commitments. Currently in his 70s, Khan has the youthful energy to share lots of anecdotes entwined with the rich legacy of Kolkata Maidan.

Mohammedan Sporting Club

Zafar Ali Khan: I was very much fascinated with Mohammedan Sporting Club as I heard a lot of stories from my father about this club. When I was pursuing my Master of Science from Calcutta University, I started writing columns for newspapers. I started my career for an Urdu Daily. They used to cover many news of Mohammedan Sporting. So that took me to the field of journalism in 1981.

Journalism to Commentary

Zafar Ali Khan: Once I was reporting for a Mohun Bagan-East Bengal match. That was in the National Football League. It must be around 1998 or 1999. I was working on the ground for my paper.   Suddenly, during half-time, a producer from Doordarshan, Mr Milan Naskar, came to me and said, “Zafar, you have to sit as a commentator as a lot of phone calls are coming from Delhi for Hindi commentary.” I was at first shocked. But some seconds later I understood the situation, took the challenge and sat as a commentator.

Some Assignments

Zafar Ali Khan: Milan Naskar had faith in me. Once he called me and said, “You’ll have to do commentary alongside Pravin Thipsay. Instantly I refused. I understood Chess, and I could play Chess too but sharing the microphone with Pravin Thipsay made me nervous. At that time, Mr Naskar explained to me not to worry about sharing the mike with the Grandmaster; but to concentrate on giving commentary for those who are new to chess and Pravin Thipsay would commentary for professionals. I understood the situation and hence, went there, sat beside the legendary Chess player and started my job. I learnt so many things that day. While I was explaining one or two moves, Pravin Thipsay was talking about 40 moves ahead. But all ended well and now I am a good friend with Mr Thipsay.

Commentary on Baseball

Zafar Ali Khan: It was for the first time in the history of broadcasting that Baseball was telecasted live from Salt Lake. And I did the commentary. You know that Baseball is quite unknown in India and we are not so aware of its rules and regulations. So I had to learn those rules within four days. It was a very tedious job and sometimes I also took the papers to the washroom to memorise the rules. So that was also remarkable for me.

Memories of Hockey

Zafar Ali Khan: The Hockey Bengal office is the oldest organisation of Hockey in India. I have been fortunate enough to do commentary for Doordarshan Sports for the Beighton Cup for the last one or two decades. And I did commentary alongside the legendary Hockey player, Mr Gurbux Singh. I interviewed most of the Hockey players…the Olympians. I am fortunate enough to interview Dr Vece Paes, Keshav Dutt, Jaswant Rajput, Leslie Claudius.

The Eden Gardens

Zafar Ali Khan: This ground is very close to my heart….very close. It’s like my heart only. Here I have spent 40 years covering most of the memorable matches. It was the series against England in 1993. Azharuddin was the captain; he was out of form and his captaincy was at stake. Before the start of the test match, during one of the practice sessions, I somewhat managed to ask Azharuddin for an interview. He didn’t say anything then but after the practice, he just knocked me on my shoulders and asked me to follow him. He took me to the players’ dressing room from the back door where nobody was allowed. Sitting there, Azharuddin started the interview by saying, “Bahar sab log khada hai, agar tumko dekhega to bahut maar marega.” (All are waiting outside if they see you here you would get a good thrashing).

Another incident was when I took Mr Ajit Wadekar’s interview. He was the coach and he opted for three spinners- Kumble, Raju and Chauhan. There was a lot of hue and cry. But when India won with the trio taking 17 wickets among themselves every mouth was shut. I convinced Mr Wadekar to give an exclusive interview to me. He agreed, I took him to a room and locked it from the inside. The other reporters started shouting. To pacify the situation, I opened the door and asked one photographer to come in to take the pictures. We together did the interview and later gave it to the other publications.

All India Radio

Zafar Ali Khan: I am fortunate enough to do commentary for All India Radio for The FIFA Under 17 World Cup. For All India Radio, I interviewed more that 70-80 persons who have won the Arjuna award or Padmasree. But the most memorable of these is when I went to the London Olympics and I did break the news of Gagan Narang getting the bronze medal. So that was the high point of my career.

A Life where Change is the Constant

Zafar Ali Khan: When we heard about Ajay Basu, Kamal Bhattacharya, Pushpen Sarkar- the doyens of Bengali commentary- their style were different. We have changed to keep pace with the generation. Today everybody has every sort of information. So we have to give some more information. Suppose, yesterday there was an English Premier League Derby and today there is a Kolkata Derby. We have to take some notes, or anecdotes from there to make our commentary interesting. Precisely, there has to be a colourful ingredient in our commentary to attract the new generation.