For the '80s and 90's cricket fans in Tamil Nadu who stick to the radios and transistors to relish the cricket, he was their eyes to the match and his voice was a magnet that attracted and admired by many cricket enthusiasts, as it taught and cemented the path of how a commentary should be and how it can live in the hearts of millions through the ears. 

Abdul Jabbar, who was celebrated by the past and would be inspiring the future, wrote the prefix for the fashion of where the Tamil cricket commentary stands right now. He was the hope for the people who were unable to watch the cricket as they heard the cricket through his iconic voice and pattern of his commentary, which had drawn larger crowds towards him, who later became his fans. A native of Sathankulam, Thootukudi in Tamil Nadu, Abdul Jabbar had bravely faced the challenges and through him, millions in rural areas had watched the game. 

Born on June 26, 1939, in Thoothukudi, Jabbar has his roots in Sri Lanka and he spent a part of his life in our neighboring island and apart from getting an education in Sri Lanka, Jabbar had seeded his hobby of listening radio as his interest and he used to be a critic of the radio programs and being his interest, he listened to the programs on the radios and began to write critics about the programs to the respective channels. 

Jabbar developed broad thinking and idea about his trajectory in the commentary that brought uniqueness from him and after getting noticed by the right eyes, Jabbar had a breakthrough and when he was writing the critic to All India Radio, he had mentioned about the Tamil commentary in cricket following which he was challenged in pioneering the initiative. He bravely took it up and made his commentary debut in the Ranji Trophy match that was played between Tamil Nadu and Kerala. 

For Jabbar, that was the moment that seeded the new linguistic dimension of the cricket commentary after he had a breakthrough in his debut and from then on, there was no turning back as he had meritoriously written his story that inspires a lot today. In 1982, Jabbar was commenting in Tamil about the match between India and England, and his magnetic voice had not only won the hearts but won the heartfelt compliment from then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MG Ramachandran. 

Jabbar had established a decent fan base across and beyond the borders which waited to hear his voice and he didn't limit himself in the cricket commentary but, through his voice, he also interviewed the political leaders and his magnetic voice became boundless as in 1999, he had done a cricket commentary from London for 45 days during the Cricket World Cup and he has also done Tamil cricketing commentary for ESPN and Star Sports as his contribution had attracted English sports media to launch Tamil Commentary. 

His enthralling voice had turned LTTE Chief Prabhakaran into his fan and Prabhakaran had invited Jabbar in 2002 and honored him. Jabbar said that the compliment from Prabhakaran was the biggest compliment in his life and to document his meet with the LTTE Chief, Jabbar had written a book titled 'Alaithar Prabhakaran' in which he shared his experienced meeting the Tamil Eelam leader. 

In 2004, when Tamil commentary was stopped in radios, Jabbar went to reputed English media and done cricket commentary in Tamil Nadu and etched his contribution vastly at the time when we were a lot behind the current age technology. Braving the odds and challenges, Jabbar marched successfully, earned an immense reputation through his unparallel contribution, and created a path of how the commentary should be and to live the story through the commentary. 

Honoring his contribution, Jabbar was conferred with various awards including the Tamil Mamani award from the Tamil Nadu government. Beyond commentary, Jabbar was known for his versatility for being a writer, reporter, and drama editor. He has broken away the barriers and proved that the Tamil cricket commentary will reach more people when English commentary had a strong prevalence. He achieved the feat and earned love from millions through his magnetic voice and a clear pattern of speaking in a way that it would get close to everyone's heart. 

That legendary commentator, who was the darling of Tamil cricket fans, is no more as Abdul Jabbar has breathed his last on Tuesday at the age of 81 due to his age-related ailments. What he prefixed has now become a book of Tamil commentary that is followed by the contemporary commentators and it indisputable that he rooted and watered the seed of how the Tamil commentary has grown as equal as the English commentary. After knowing his demise, many have been paying their tribute and condolences. Abdul Jabbar has passed away and he has left a legacy and he would be remembered for many generations and the contemporary commentators should preserve and follow his legacy through which we can pay our respect to him and relish his voice forever.