Harsha Bhogle Opens Up About IPL Sacking and His Relation With Former Players

Jan 25, 2017 at 2:18 PM

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Harsha Bhogle Opens Up About IPL Sacking and His Relation With Former Players

Harsha Bhogle is probably the only man in the industry to achieve ‘Nirvana’ in storytelling, without having an experience in professional cricket or without having any professional degree in journalism. The veteran storyteller started his career as a radio commentator and from then, he never looked back and became the first Indian to be invited by Australia Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). Bhogle, in his long career as a narrator, has covered ‘N’ number of World Cups, Champions Trophy, has hosted many sporting events and written some books as well.

Just like his daily routine, Bhogle was free from a hectic schedule after covering the T20 World Cup 2016 held in India and was all set to narrate the stories of IPL as well, but was withdrawn from the commentary team at the last moment. Fans were disgusted by the BCCI’s decision to withdraw Harsha from the commentary panel and expressed their emotions on social media. Bhogle too was taken over by the support and thanked his fans showing such concern for him.

But the reason behind his sacking was still a mystery. It was said that the negative comments coming in from Amitabh Bachchan were the reason behind his sacking. Bachchan was the one who expressed displeasure over Bhogle praising acts of the opposition team. The situation could have just been a passing comment until Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the skipper of Indian cricket team, at that time joined the chorus and supported Amitabh Bachchan. Harsha was soon sacked from the commentary team, for unknown reasons,

“No one told me what the matter (the reason for his sacking) was,” BHogle told the Economic Times.

“If someone had said ‘You’re not good enough’, that would’ve been fine. Some big players have been told that. Suppose I was told I violated a broadcasting ethic, even that would have been fine. But nobody could look me in the face and tell me, This is the reason,” Bhogle said.
Bhogle said that this was not the case when players like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman used to play for the country. He reiterated that his views on the game mattered the most for those players,

“But I do miss the generation that’s gone. Sachin (Tendulkar), Rahul (Dravid), Anil (Kumble), Sourav (Ganguly), Srinath, (VVS) Laxman… It was a beautiful generation, where I never had to worry about what I’m saying. When Sachin was struggling, I once said, ‘Here’s an emperor walking the streets like a common man’. I did not hear back from anyone that, ‘Sachin did not like that’,” the 55-year-old said.

The veteran cricket commentator also stated that he could be completely frank at the time, without any fear,
“I could be completely frank, to the extent that Sourav on air asked me my opinion on something. I declined and told Sourav that he was the one who had played at the highest level. And he said, ‘How many World Cups have you covered? Go ahead, I want to know what you think’,” Bhogle further added.

Bhogle, since his ouster from the commentary panel, has dedicated himself to many other events with one of being working as a cricket expert for a sports website. Bhogle has also done 47 events for his wife, who runs a corporate speaking program. All in all, he has kept him busy since the past one year and has been attached to the game as well.

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