 "Harsha on Hotstar: Bhogle returns to host IPL matches on streaming service after BCCI snub")
The Indian Premier League (IPL) has not been short of controversies in its ninth iteration. Before the T20 bonanza even started, the termination of veteran Indian commentator Harsh Bhogle's contract by the BCCI cooked up a storm. But it looks like Harsha is back. Bhogle might not be accompanying Danny Morrison and Ian Bishop in the commentary box, but he’s hosting IPL matches for Hotstar. The iconic commentator tweeted about his new engagement on Saturday.
Quite looking forward to hosting two games today on @hotstartweets. On air at 1500 hrs.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 30, 2016
So, if you have been missing Bhogle’s voice behind the microphone describing the action on the ground, you can tune into Hotstar streaming of the matches. Bhogle had been tweeting extensively about his thoughts on the IPL and it seemed he was missing his favourite tournament. But now he’ll be back covering the IPL. It seems cricket fans are joyed over Bhogle’s new assignment. They had earlier expressed their support for Harsha and had expressed displeasure over his sacking on Twitter. This time they took to twitter again and expressed that they had missed the famous commentator.
@bhogleharsha @hotstartweets best of luck sir.we missed u so far.
— InsideMan (@Efter_Ahsan) April 30, 2016
@bhogleharsha @hotstartweets Commentary without you is like maggi without masala. No real taste at all :/
— Manish Barthwal (@manish_barthwl) April 30, 2016
Impact Shorts
More Shorts@bhogleharsha @hotstartweets You can take Harsha out of IPL but you can't take IPL out of Harsha! Looking forward to it.
— Yuvraj Jadhav (@yugoja) April 30, 2016
Earlier, BCCI’s decision to terminate Bhogle’s IPL contract without an explanation had created a brouhaha among cricket fans in India. People protested his exclusion from the IPL, a competition Bhogle has been associated with since its inception. BCCI still hasn’t provided any clear reason for Bhogle’s ouster and a lot of theories behind the move were going around. Many said it was because of Amitabh Bachchan’s tweet, which was laden with his displeasure over the performance of an unspecified Indian commentator. The Bollywood star didn’t think the Indian commentator was praising team India enough.
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
India limited overs captain MS Dhoni too had weighed in on the issue by quoting Bachchan’s tweet and not adding much too it, echoing the sentiment.
Nothing to add https://t.co/8rBel3vw4o
— Mahendra Singh Dhoni (@msdhoni) March 23, 2016
Following speculations that it was Bhogle being referred in the Bollywood star’s tweet, the commentator had issued a clarification on Facebook in his defence, saying that English commentators needed to stay objective as the feed went out to different countries and it would be unfair to fans of other nations if only India was praised during the course of a game. However, an Indian Express report also mentioned an “angry exchange” between Bhogle and a Nagpur-based cricket official following a game at the VCA stadium in Nagpur during the World T20, where Bhogle had apparently expressed displeasure over him having to run down and climb stairs repeatedly to switch between English and Hindi commentary boxes, instead of being provided VIP room access from where he could directly reach the Hindi commentary box. While the fog surrounding Bhogle’s ouster from the IPL has not yet been lifted, and the commentator isn’t back in the box, one can still catch him hosting IPL matches at Hotstar. The streaming website has made most out of the situation and pounced on the opportunity to get a popular figure like Bhogle for the IPL coverage. It seems the deal works out best for Hotstar and for the Bhogle’s fans as well. As one fan aptly said, You can take Harsha out of the IPL, you can’t take IPL out of Harsha.
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