HHIL 2014: Star TV lifts hockey telecast quality to astonishing level

When was the last time that you saw a penalty corner ball, is palmed away by a goalie? Perhaps many times, you may reply.

But if the question is revamped to make sense that when did you actually see the ball hitting the goalkeeper’s left hand pad with minute details of exact spot (whether or centre of the stopper), and heard with the sound it makes, you will think twice and then will grope for answer.
Even the officiating umpire would not be sure of the details he would have seen, though he is closest to action.

We perhaps would not have imagined it is possible to see on television exactly from which spot of his pad the ball on Penalty Corner drill is palmed away by goalie.

Or for that matter, exactly where the drag flickers’ ball hit the first charger’s stick – in the middle, edge or his knee — in penalty corner defence, a vital area of suspense and thrill in field hockey.
You could have seen it all by now, as Star TV redefines hockey telecast quality; 3 matches have been telecast till the story is written.

Yes, the quality of action replays have vastly improved with the telecast improvisation the Star Television that brings home the second Hero Hockey India League.

The quality of hockey telecast goes a step further with Action Replays relayed to your screen within seconds, virtually within seconds, opens clear understanding of what transpired on the ground on a particular move to the clearest possible way, and no doubt it often gets the thrill of you in full measure.

Even one would have counted, if need be, the droplets of sweat on the face of Raghunath when was he just substituted on Match 2 on Sunday, and the roving camera zoomed on him while sitting on the sin bin.

The way Gunasekar of Uttar Pradesh Wizards got a penalty corner too gives another happy moment. The short one-handed dribble near the right side of the circle, and moment of it crossing the circle line, and then how it hit the leg of John Ried-Ross for Wizards’ first penalty corner, all is there as if one is watching the action replay in a hi-tech coaching soft-ware like ‘Coach’.

There is also a moment that captures our attention.

A player just catches the stick effortlessly, that lies on the turf after kicking it gently, and the way only a hockey player could do that act, caught imaginatively by the roving camera and relayed to us in full measure as the action happened.

When Ashley Jackson of Ranchi Rhinos dived for a deflection inside D, fed by Birendra Lakra, one would have easily seen how much, or for that matter how less, gap that separated his stick and ball, which any way got slipped through.

One moment when PR Sreejesh of Mumbai Magicians conceded a goal against Punjab Warriors too catches our eyes for its precision. He dived to right direction, anticipated rightly the flight, and stretched his left hand to stop, but the hand stopper was just tilted, the ball hit hard his stopper, straight away hitting ground before bouncing into the cage.

He may have conceded this close range goal, but it gives a measure how close he was to block it, it all question of a few degrees of tilt in his stopper.

Not that everything with the telecast is total. There is always room for improvisation.

Say for an example, despite so many cameras catching on everything one could not confidently say the goal the Ranchi Rhinos in the fourth minute was off his stick or went without touch.

Hockey is very dynamic, and has potential to spectacle.

With attention paying now on quality of telecast, instead of entity, good viewer days are ahead.

However, hockey too has numbers, on par with any other popular sports, which writers call stats, and this is one area the TV should focus to improve the presentation, at least from the point of commentary and commentators.

That may or may not happen, as of now let us relish the dish being served before us.