For cricket fans from all over the globe, who have been watching cricket since the 90s, Harsha Bhogle, is the voice of cricket. He is everywhere. From the commentary box to the presentations, player interviews to sports talk shows, Harsha has been eating, sleeping and living cricket. Rarely has there been a cricketing event where Harsha Bhogle was not to be seen, or heard, for that matter.
The man who has spent most of his lifetime behind the microphone, is suddenly in the limelight. Not for all the right reasons though.
Harsha Bhogle has not been included in this year’s list of IPL commentators. The matter was not a big one as it is entirely up to the BCCI as to who do they want to be include in their property, the IPL. But as the grapevine started behind the reasons of omission of Harsha from the commentary team, the matter became big news.
Theories of a conspiracy are doing the rounds that it could be Actor Amitabh Bachchan’s tweet targeted at Harsha and also backed by Indian Captain MS Dhoni, behind all the fuss.
Mr. Bachchan, after the India-Bangladesh match in World T20, was a bit miffed with an Indian commentator speaking more of the opposition players rather than Indian players and he tweeted the same from his twitter handle. It was soon inferred that the tweet was hinting at Harsha Bhogle. Matters became worse when MS Dhoni supported Mr. Bachchan’s views and retweeted the same. In fact, it is believed the Dhoni was directly behind the ouster of Harsha Bhogle from the commentary team of IPL. He had complained to the BCCI and also suggested this action. There is no conclusive evidence though pointing at any of the mentioned reasons for this move.
Conspiracy or not, the matter has been blown out of proportion.
There can be views for both, those supporting or opposing this move by BCCI. Firstly, the official grounds; IPL is a private property of the BCCI and they have the authority to appoint or reject anyone, without giving any solid reason. But there are moral grounds as well where there should be no politics involved in any sport. All appointments should be based on merit and Harsha as we all know is among the best cricket commentators in the world. And a tournament as grand as IPL would be well served with a presenter like Harsha.
A lot was being said and published about the incident which prompted Harsha to come out with his views as well.
He says he doesn’t know the reason and doesn’t need to know.
In the words of Harsha “he is not the story himself, he is just the story teller”. Very aptly put, as expected from a man of his class and caliber. And an avid cricket fan would know, It is not Harsha’s loss for not being in IPL, it is the other way round.