Blind commentator continues to overcome obstacles
25-Jul-2013
Dean du Plessis has been commentating on the game he has loved for countless years. Du Plessis, a Zimbabwean, writes for a local Harare paper, and has even made his TV debut in 2003. All this, despite being completely blind. He continues to relay the on-field action through a highly developed sense of sound. Sahan Bidappa, writing for Hindustan Times, explores further.
Du Plessis, with the help of stump microphones, is able to describe the shot a batsman plays when the bat makes contact with the ball. "I can make out when a batsman plays a crisp cover drive and when he plays a yorker. These are different bat sounds that now I'm familiar with," says Du Plessis, making the bat sound with unbridled enthusiasm. He is also familiar with the players' exertions and their cries of elation or frustration and can gauge the capacity of the crowd by the noise they make.