Former Bangladesh opener Athar Ali Khan was renowned for his elegant and straight batted stroke play. Although his international playing career is over, Athar continues to be as graceful and straight in his new venture, which is commentating for different sports channel on TV.

He has worked with ESPN-STAR Sports as an expert commentator in the past but his recent exploits with the microphone during the ongoing Bangladesh-Pakistan series has projected him in a new light and has led Athar to be adored by millions of his countrymen.

With Pakistani commentators on the TEN Sports team missing no opportunity to undermine Bangladesh's valiant showing, unjustly on most occasions, against the highly-rated home side, Athar decided to fight a lone battle off the field and successfully upheld the country's pride and dignity without appearing biased or prejudiced.

Athar, who is also a member of the Bangladesh Cricket Board's selection committee spoke of his bitter-sweet experience of the Pakistan tour during an interview with Hasan Masood of The Daily Star at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Thursday.

Following are the excerpts of that interview:

Daily Star Sport (DSS) : You were an international cricketer and now you've taken up commentating. How comfortable do you feel in this role?

Athar Ali Khan (AAK) : Well, this is not my very first series. I have had quite a few stints with the ESPN-STAR Sports team. But this is my first overseas assignment as a commentator and I'm loving it.

Daily Star Sport (DSS) : What is it like commentating on your own players and what emotions do you go through?

AAK: On this tour, it wasn't just the Bangladesh players pitted against the Pakistanis. I think I'm fighting it out with the Pakistani commentators as well. However, I must admit, it has been a very good experience and I would love to continue this in the future also.

DSS: Can commentators be neutral?

AAK: They have to be. That's what a commentator's job is. There are two commentators in the box at the same time. The production unit makes this arrangement because they want two different views. You need to make sure that those views are neutral and not biased. That's very important.

DSS: Do you find it difficult to accept when your views are totally contradicted by fellow commentators?

AAK: Well, it has happened on this tour on more than one occasion. The best thing I could do or have done on such situations was to react instantly. I did not correct him but instead gave my views as straight as possible. That way, I tried to make sure that the producer or the commentator in question, got the message.

DSS: Did you feel any problem criticising the Bangladesh cricketers, especially since you are a selector?

AAK: I'm not shy of criticising at all. I'm not biased towards Bangladesh. If somebody plays a good shot, I always appreciate that and if somebody plays a poor shot, I'll criticise it. It has got nothing to do with me being a selector.

DSS: What is your evaluation of Bangladesh's performance so far in this series?

AAK: I have never seen Bangladesh play better cricket. I didn't see them in action in Australia but just by looking at the scorecards, I thought they played brilliantly down under. But I think the Tigers have taken their level of improvement one step ahead in Pakistan.

What they have done different in Pakistan is that they have absolutely dominated sessions in each of the three Tests. Not just one session, more than that and not just one day, more than a day. And they have been very very unlucky not to win the Test in Multan.

Hats off to the players, the coach, the whole team. The results don't reflect how well Bangladesh have played the Test series. I'm proud of them

DSS: What about the one-day series?

AAK: It has been a bit disappointing so far. You have to understand that Bangladesh came back from Australia and only had six days of rest before they were off to Pakistan. They didn't get enough time to practice. But again if you look at today's match (4th ODI), they have come back. They are trying to bounce back and that's what matters.