MUMBAI: Ray Hume, one of the pillars of ESPN Star Sports (ESS) in Asia, and more so in India, has decided it is time to move on. Hume, who serves as the sports broadcaster's director of cricket and sports production in India, put in his papers last week.

While his last working day is tomorrow, he will continue to be associated with the company during the transition process. When Hume joined the company seven years ago, the company's production of cricket did not go beyond live broadcasts with replays. Today, under Hume's expertise, the broadcaster produces an array of specials.

One of them is Dream Job Harsha Ki Khoj. This ongoing initiative gives aspiring commentators a chance to be like ESS' commentator Harsha Bhogle. Another property that Hume created was Super Selector, one of ESS' major interactive initiatives that brought viewers closer to the channel.

ESS India MD RC Venkateish said, "During his tenure, Hume built up the Indian production team from scratch. From a situation of one person, the production team in India today has gone up to 40 people. What is great is that this production team has multi skill sets. This is especially evident in our treatment of the Premier Hockey League (PHL).

"The technical expertise of live event coverage has definitely been boosted over the years. The PHL has benefitted in a big way from this. It is pacy and exciting and the momentum is building up among viewers. Hume's team also did a fantastic job when India toured Bangladesh in December. We did the entire production. That is not the case with Australia when we take footage from Channel Nine. When India plays we give it a boost by adding cameras for extra angles and also through our commentary team."

As for the critical question of who would take hume's place, Venkateish says, "We are still working out the details on who will succeed Ray Hume."