FIFA World Cup 2018: Calling English, Hindi commentary 'tame', Anand Mahindra switches to Malayalam feed

Calling English and Hindi commentators “tame”, Anand Mahindra has said he is switching to watching the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Malayalam.

In a tweet posted on Saturday, Mahindra said he would ‘switch to a channel with Malayalam commentary’ for football matches even though he ‘does not understand the language.’

According to the Executive Chairman of Mahindra Group, the Malayalam commentators were so “pumped up” that they made ‘English and Hindi commentators sound tame.’

Mahindra also shared a short video of Cristiano Ronaldo’s third goal against Spain on Friday, which had Malayalam commentary.

Mahindra tweeted: “Ok that’s it. I’m switching to this channel with commentary in Malayalam. No, I don’t understand the language but I don’t need to—these guys are so pumped up they make the English & Hindi commentators sound tame!”

Ok that’s it. I’m switching to this channel with commentary in Malayalam. No, I don’t understand the language but I don’t need to—these guys are so pumped up they make the English & Hindi commentators sound tame! pic.twitter.com/yWqApVx6jp

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) June 16, 2018

Earlier, Mahindra had tweeted about Iceland drawing with Argentina on its World Cup debut despite the island nation’s population being “smaller than some suburbs of Mumbai.”

“Groaning about the state of Indian football isn’t new;it’s a national pastime. But nothing’s made our sad state more stark than seeing Iceland,a nation with a population smaller than some suburbs of Mumbai,in the cup&even holding their own against Argentina...” Mahindra had tweeted.

Groaning about the state of Indian football isn’t new;it’s a national pastime. But nothing’s made our sad state more stark than seeing Iceland,a nation with a population smaller than some suburbs of Mumbai,in the cup&even holding their own against Argentina... — anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) June 16, 2018

Mahindra had previously owned Mumbai-based Mahindra United Football Club which played in I-League’s first division before shutting down at the end of the 2009–10 season.

World Cup’s official broadcaster in the Indian sub-continent — Sony Pictures Networks India — is showing matches in Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam, besides English. The move is to cater to football fans in parts of India such as West Bengal, Kerala, Goa and the Northeast, where football is more popular and regions where the sport is gaining popularity.

Sony officials have said that they were expecting viewership for this year’s edition to cross 100 million viewers.