How Marathi journalist-commentator Chandrasekhar P Sant's sons are carrying forward their father's legacy

Chaitanya (left) and Prasanna Sant have been doing Marathi commentary at the ongoing Maharashtra Premier League that began in Pune this month. Pic/M Fahim

While the debut edition of the Maharashtra Premier League (MPL), which kick-started in Pune on June 15, has brought a wide gamut of talent from the state to the fore, off field two Mulund-based brothers have been adding local tadka to the sweeping sixes and wickets. It's not commonplace to hear "dehboli", meaning body language, when talking about the mind space and confidence level of a cricket player on the ground, but 37-year-old Prasanna Sant's commentary in Marathi is replete with such hook words. His younger brother, Chaitanya, 32, also a commentator, is more flamboyant - he turns to "chaabuk" to describe that moment when a batsman has whipped a bowler with that fabulous shot. "But when a player goes to hit a ball over long off, and it takes the outside edge and goes to third man [instead], I call it the ‘Karjat-Kasara shot'... He intended to play there, but it goes elsewhere," Chaitanya tells mid-day. "All of us [in the cricket commentary box] have a good laugh about it."

The Sant brothers are as popular a face in the cricket stadium, as the players. For the last few years, they've been hosting major International Cricket Council (ICC) and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) events, including television shows, and doing live commentary for matches. But more than anything, they are carrying a legacy forward. Their late father, Chandrasekhar P Sant, was sports editor with a leading regional daily and a famed Marathi commentator, associated with the All India Radio and Doordarshan for decades.

"We grew up in Bandra East's Patrakar Colony," says Prasanna. "And because papa was a sports journalist, our interactions were mostly with colleagues from his circle. We had Sharad Kotnis [mid-day journalist and former treasurer of the Mumbai Cricket Association], Sunder Rajan and Raju Bharatan residing in the neighbourhood. Sports was a big and important part of our lives."

Chaitanya (left) and Prasanna with their father Chandrasekhar P Sant

He remembers their father taking them to watch matches of the Sports Journalists Association of Mumbai, which Prasanna to this day feels had the "best team in the world". "My brother and I would be the best 12th men available, because nobody would want to field... that's really how our interest in cricket began." Both Prasanna and Chaitanya studied at IES New English School, near Government Colony in Bandra East, where Sachin Tendulkar studied before moving to Dadar's Shardashram Vidyamandir. "This was a matter of great pride for us," says Chaitanya. "[Because of Sachin] Cricket grew in a big way in our school."

It was, however, only after their father's friend and senior Sharad Kotnis, convinced him to get a membership at the MIG Cricket Club that the boys began to play a lot of cricket. "Kotnis kaka even told papa that if he didn't get it done, he would do it for us... he felt it would be good training ground for us boys," remembers Prasanna. The MIG Cricket Academy had Sandeep Patil, Chandrakant Pandit and Vijay Bhosle as coaches, while in school, says Prasanna, Satish Samant coached him. The foundation helped him, in particular. Prasanna played a lot inter-school cricket. "Our school won the Giles Shield cricket tournament for the first time [in February 2000] and I was declared Man of the Match," he recalls. Despite the victory, he says, his father never pushed him to take up sports full-time. "Dad was aware that my performance [in cricket] was not consistent. So, he told me to focus on academics, but also asked me to continue my passion for the game. Even back then, he knew that there were many ways in which I could contribute to the sport."

Cricket commentating happened by chance for both brothers. Prasanna was dabbling in radio and working as a language trainer. "Papa would also take me to a lot cricketing events, and suddenly throw me in the deep end, asking me to host or do commentary," he says. His first international match was the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2013 between West Indies and Sri Lanka at MIG, where apart from ground announcements and over-to-over information, he also hosted the presentation ceremony.

Chaitanya, on the other hand, wanted to follow Tendulkar's lead. "From the beginning, I dreamt of becoming a Test cricket player. I imagined myself playing cricket, and not giving my Class X exams... just like Sachin," he smiles, "But at some point, I realised that it was not as easy as it looked. Since I was the youngest and the most pampered, papa also let me be." His interest in history led him to get a Bachelor's degree in Arts, and Master's in communications and journalism. "Around this time, my father quit as editor, and started a sports PR firm. We would cover different sports events, not just cricket. Papa would write the reports in Marathi, and my job was to translate them into English. I was working with the best sports reporter of the time," Prasanna butts in, "That must have been rigorous, because there were only two people who could understand papa's handwriting - papa himself and God." Chaitanya had a long stint as a lecturer, which gave him the confidence to speak in public. The opportunity to do commentary, however, only came after his father's passing, in 2017. "Prasanna gave me the reference of a person looking for a football commentator in Indore. It was a bit last-minute. Apparently, a senior person hired for the job had backed out, because he didn't like the accommodation arrangements. I jumped at the opportunity and was selected after the audition," he remembers. The brothers have since given commentary for T20 cricket and Indian Premier League matches.

Their father, they say, would have been proud of how far they've come. Sant was president of the Sports Journalists Association of Mumbai, when he passed away in November 2014, at the age of 61. Their mother Sujata has since been a pillar of support. "Dad always insisted that we learn English," says Prasanna, because Marathi was something we spoke at home. When they look back, they wonder how they took to Marathi commentary so effortlessly. Chaitanya perhaps has the answer. "Papa and VV Karmarkar did a lot of commentary together, and a carrot that papa would often offer us, to listen to them, would be this one sentence - Prasanna vatavaran aani prekshakan madhye Chaitanya [pleasant atmosphere, and excitement among the crowds]. He would use this sentence in his commentary, and then ask us to listen to it carefully, and point out when he had dropped our names We would do exactly that, getting excited each time," he remembers, "I think it was his attempt to make us well-versed with Marathi cricket commentary."