A day after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) dumped Harsha Bhogle as a TV commentator , sources now say that Indian players had a crucial role in his being axed.
BCCI's officials might want one to believe that it was Amitabh Bachchan's none-too-flattering tweet about Indian commentators - purportedly aimed at Bhogle - is the real reason for his ouster.
The 54-year-old commentator, with 20 years of broadcast experience, has apparently earned the ire of the Indian team and its management with his often frank comments and observations. The impression that has gained credence over a period of time is that he is critical of Team India's policies - particularly it's pitch policy both in Tests and in the recent World Twenty20 - and several players seem to have compained to BCCI about it.
Bhogle's critical views may not be unfair or unreasonable but they're certainly not politically correct in the context of the BCCI. BCCI-contracted commentators have always maintained that they have never got instructions on what to say during their commentary but there have always been a few no-go zones, particularly about the selection policy, pitch policy, captaincy, BCCI politics etc. It isn't clear at what point Harsha crossed that line. That he often posts comments on Twitter during commentary may have gone against him.
This paper spoke to two members of the recent Indian team who admitted that there were discussions about Bhogle's commentary in the dressing room, although they claimed ignorance of a formal complaint having been filed against the commentator at any stage. Neither of them chose to speak on the record.
One indication of what Team India feels about Bhogle's comments is reflected in an MS Dhoni re-tweet of Bachchan's March 23 post, which read: T2184- With all due respects, it would be really worthy of an Indian commentator to speak more about our players than others all the time.
Dhoni retweeted that with: "Nothing to add."
It is said that all commentary and umpire postings for the IPL were vetted by BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur, but it is unlikely that he had a hand in this decision. It appears it's a collective decision by the BCCI top brass who have taken inputs from playersn. Bhogle chose not to comment and maintained he doesn't know why he has been dropped from the IPL commentary panel.
Recently, the BCCI changed its policy of handing long-term contracts to commentators and decided to hire them on a series-by-series basis. Source say is Harsha is likely to be back for the next assignment.
Source: The Times of India
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