MS Dhoni: Former Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has praised the initiative of commentary in regional languages ​​in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He praised Bhojpuri commentary and called it “energetic”.
Dhoni has said that Bhojpuri commentary reminds me of old-time radio commentary. It is fun to listen to it. Bhojpuri has made its debut in the commentary feed during IPL 2023.

This year, the 18th season of IPL is streaming live on 16 feeds in 12 languages: English, Hindi, Marathi, Haryanvi, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Gujarati and Punjabi.

Regional language commentary

Dhoni said, “I haven’t listened to much regional language commentary because when we watch live matches, replays are limited and most of the commentary I listen to is in English or Hindi. This helps us analyse the game better. Personally, I also like listening to the commentators as most of them are former players. While I may play 17 matches in a season, they cover hundreds of matches in different tournaments and countries. They have a lot of experience about different conditions and teams.

Dhoni further said, “As players, we know the strengths and weaknesses of our team, but listening to commentary gives you an outsider’s perspective. This brings new ideas. Like ‘Why don’t we try this approach?’ – Which can then be evaluated based on intelligence and data to see if it fits the team’s strategy or not.

I would also like to listen to Haryanvi commentary: Dhoni

Dhoni said on Zee Hotstar’s ‘The MS Dhoni Experience’, “I have not listened to much regional commentary, but I know that Bihari (Bhojpuri) commentary is very energetic. It reminds me of old-time radio commentary, where the commentators were very involved. I find it very interesting. A lot of people like to listen in their regional language – it’s their mother tongue, and they want to experience the game that way. I would love to listen to Haryanvi commentary as it is very unique.” Dhoni is playing his 18th season in the 2025 tournament and has so far played 265 matches and scored 5,243 runs with 24 half-centuries.