BCCI's ego and Big B's tweet why Harsha Bhogle was kicked out
For someone who has grown up listening to Harsha Bhogle during cricket matches, the termination of the famed commentator's IPL contract by the BCCI is astounding.
If Bhogle's commentary would have been an integral part of your socialisation in cricket, you would surely have been enamoured by his sharp analysis, inimitable sense of humour, impeccable command over English and most of all, the keen knowledge of the game. For someone trying to get a sense of the many nuances of the beautiful game, Bhogle was the person to look up to.
Mind you, cricket commentary has witnessed absolute legends - Henry Blofeld, Richie Benaud, Tony Greig, Bill Lawry. But then, there were commentators and there was Harsha Bhogle. And still is.
Bhogle continues to be the leading name in cricket journalism, perhaps in the same league as a Peter Roebuck. Former Australian wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist described him as "India's Richie Benaud equivalent, the guru of cricket from India". Bhogle, well and truly, has been the country's "first non-playing cricket celebrity".
Indeed, as much as the Sachin Tendulkars and Brian Laras of the world, Bhogle's commentary whetted your interest in the game. Therefore, Bhogle being shown the door, is sure to leave you dismayed.
But then you realise, it is the BCCI we are talking about. An organisation that has been synonymous with corruption, mismanagement, and as the treatment meted out to Bhogle shows, high-handedness. It is an organisation that decides on the fate of acclaimed commentators on the basis of social media reactions and tweets by film stars!
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| Commentators are not cheerleaders, who would only eulogise Team India, come what may. |
It apparently targets a commentator because the under-pressure captain of the team retweets the all-knowing film star's tweet in which he lambasted the commentator (the reference is obvious) for not cheering the Indian team enough during its one-run escape against Bangladesh in the World T20.
T 2184 - With all due respects, it would be really worthy of an Indian commentator to speak more about our players than others all the time.
— Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) March 23, 2016
Nothing to add https://t.co/8rBel3vw4o
— Mahendra Singh Dhoni (@msdhoni) March 23, 2016
But why should he? Commentators are not cheerleaders, who would only eulogise Team India, come what may. A commentator ideally should be objective and call as he saw it. Amitabh Bachchan may not be able to comprehend this, and our "cool" captain may have found it opportune to support the Bollywood icon on this.
The BCCI may have wanted to project Bachchan as the ambassador of Indian cricket, and Dhoni retweeting him may be too big to ignore for the organisation. But for the BCCI to be so intolerant is not how it should have been.
Here's a collection of Bhogle's tweets during the India-Bangladesh match on March 23, none of which were unconnected to the reality and none of which showed any bias towards India, as they should not.
I said it on air and I'll say it again. This is the best group of players I have seen from Bangladesh.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) March 23, 2016
Mahmudullah holds the key. That boundary of the last ball of the 18th huge
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) March 23, 2016
India have defended this total with some spirit. But the catches dropped will hurt them
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) March 23, 2016
Bangladesh have used the conditions beautifully. Have to say they are ahead at this stage.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) March 23, 2016
But perhaps the biggest reason for Bhogle's ouster is the heated exchange he had with a board official during a match at Nagpur.
Bhogle revealed that during that match, the Hindi and English commentary boxes were separated by the president’s enclosure. With the door of the VIP box shut, the bilingual commentators were left climbing down several flights of stairs, and climbing up again, after every stint.
“Working on a tight deadline, because of running around, I was at times panting as I went on air. This was because of that shut door,” said Bhogle.
He wanted the door to be opened and that led to the argument with the BCCI official. Apparently, this reached the Nagpur-based BCCI president Shashank Manohar, and could have been the catalyst for Bhogle's ouster.
“Even if it was the Nagpur incident, no one heard my part of the story,” said Bhogle.
It clearly shows that the BCCI brooks no opposition, even there is merit in it. What else to expect from the BCCI?
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| Former India hockey coach Paul Van Ass was removed after he fell out with HI boss Narinder Batra. |
But truth be told, sports federations, generally, have not been too keen to accept or appreciate criticism. The name that immediately comes to mind is that of the Hockey India (HI). It has had a dubious history of hounding out top coaches like Michael Nobbs, Terry Walsh and Paul van Ass. Van Ass was removed last year after he fell out with HI boss Narinder Batra, while the Asian Games-winning coach Terry Walsh had quit citing "bureaucratic interference".
What the HI had done in the bargain was to systematically destroy Indian hockey - which is already on the deathbed - further.
Bhogle's exit has taken a considerable amount of charm and punditry out of the IPL, and what is worse, the BCCI may also be planning to terminate the services of another legend and great commentator Sunil Gavaskar, and only let yes men to flourish. For the moment, all we are left with are Sanjay Manjrekar and Navjot Singh Sidhu. God save cricket commentary in India.