The Harsha Bhogle – BCCI Saga: A dangerous trend emerging from Indian Cricket

Apr 17, 2016 at 4:51 PM

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The Harsha Bhogle – BCCI Saga: A dangerous trend emerging from Indian Cricket

Only a few days into season 9 of the Indian Premier League, there are new franchises, new players, but one of the biggest talking points is an old voice which is missing from the commentary box. Harsha Bhogle was unceremoniously axed by the broadcaster despite being on the IPL roster, believed to be on the insistence of the BCCI.

Last Monday, 54-year-old Harsha Bhogle came up with his side of the story on his Facebook page.

“I still don’t know why I am not doing the IPL. I haven’t been told. I can accept the fact that people don’t like me. But I genuinely hope it isn’t because cricketers have complained about what I have to say,” Bhogle was clearly frustrated with the incident.

Last week, as soon as the news of Bhogle’s sacking surfaced, social media was flooded with some epic tweets in support of the renowned commentator. From cricket lovers to Bollywood celebrities all claiming how much they will miss hearing his voice on air, and wanting to know the exact reason behind his sacking.

But the real interesting part is, Harsha isn’t the first commentator to be scrapped by BCCI. Here are some examples, from the recent past, which indicates a dangerous trend rising its head in Indian cricket, where the Board looks to be deciding what a commentator must and must not say on a Live telecast.

Here are the four cricketers who suffered the same fate:

  1. Arun Lal

Back in 2012, Arun Lal was axed from the Indian commentary panel for allegedly involved in the commentary of the Bangladesh Premier League, a direct competition for the IPL.

2) Sanjay Majrekar

Then it was 2013, Sanjay Manjrekar was snubbed from the commentary panel for the India-Australia series, though he had a contract with the official broadcaster. The reason cited by BCCI was, Manjrekar allegedly criticising board president N. Srinivasan and IPL CEO Sundar Raman during a webcast.

3. Danny Morrison

The same year, former New Zealand cricketer Danny Morrison and South African HD Ackerman were fired from IPL commentary as they introduced Virat Kohli as India’s captain-in-waiting, at a time when questions were repeatedly being raised over MS Dhoni’s leadership quality.

4) Ian Chappell

In 2013, famous Australian commentator and former Test captain Ian Chappell refused commentary job for the India-Australia series after his contract did not even gave him the permission to talk about team selection, DRS or administrative matters.

The strange restrictions given to the commentators has somewhat led to a dangerous trend emerging, one which gives no such place for objectivity in modern cricket commentary.

Take IPL season 6 for instance, when the whole cricketing world was shocked by the spot-fixing scandal, both the IPL commentary and studio team did not even mention the ‘F’ word once in the entire duration of the competition, mysteriously avoided any kind of discussion on the most pressing issue in world cricket at that time.

Harsha Bhogle himself has been accused of turning a blind eye over controversial yet important aspects in Indian cricket. During last year’s World Cup his interview with Srinivasan, the chairman of ICC at the time, was the exact example of commentators adopting the head in the sand approach; where not a single question was thrown over Srinivasan’s removal as the BCCI chief on charges of conflict of interest or the Big-3 engulfing the ICC under his leadership.

The BCCI is and always has been very allergic to criticism, across successive dispensations. The board has used the ‘control’ enshrined in its name to swept away anyone who has dared to question BCCI’s functioning.

In times such as these conflicting moments, do cricket fans really miss a particular commentator on TV? After all, whoever has the mike in his hand, the remote control simply lies in the hands of the mighty BCCI.

And if, a hard-working, honest, good-natured professional becomes a victim of road kill, well, what of that? It is our world; 15 minutes of glittering fame, five minutes of outrage and then!!! Nothing official about it…

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