IPL 2016: Senior Indian cricketers might be behind Harsha Bhogle's ouster

The sudden expulsion of Harsha Bhogle from the commentary team of the IPL 2016 has surely raised many eyebrows. Though the reason behind the ouster is not clear, yet according to a report in the Times of India on Monday, it is believed that the sudden ouster could be due to a complaint from some of the senior Indian cricketers.

The renowned commentator was flabbergasted as he said, "I still don't know the reason." Harsha was supposed to be on the panel 48 hours ago and he even had his flights booked for the tournament. However, on the next day, he came to know that his services were not required anymore.

There hasn’t been any official word from the BCCI yet on the issue but according to a report in the Indian Express, a senior BCCI official,on condition of anonymity said, “When deciding the commentators, we take feedback from everyone. We monitor social media reactions on commentators, and also take inputs from players.”

There has been tremendous support for the experienced commentator in the social media and the people there have urged to bring Harsha back in the IPL. But what has given this story a new angle is the alleged involvement of some of the senior Indian cricketers in this contentious issue.

It is believed that some of the players have complained to the board about Harsha after a match in the ICC T20 World Cup 2016.

‘Had no idea’

"The previous generation - when you had the likes of Sourav [Ganguly], VVS [Laxman], Rahul [Dravid] and Sachin [Tendulkar] around - was too classy and too big in stature to get involved in such petty instances," he told TOI, adding that he had "no idea" of any such development.

It had also been reported that Harsha’s removal had something to do with the heated exchange he had with an official in India’s opening game at Nagpur in the T20 World Cup. Harsha too was vocal about the incident in Nagpur where the Hindi and English commentary box was separated by the president’s enclosure.

With the door of the VIP box shut, the bilingual commentators had to rush down several flights of stairs and climb 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.

The controversy revolving around Harsha Bhogle can also be rooted back to veteran Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan’s tweet where he urged the commentators to focus on the Indian players more. It created a huge round of controversy as Harsha himself cleared his stance in a facebook post.

Bachchan’s tweet was also retweeted by Indian skipper MS Dhoni which fueled the rumours that he too wasn’t happy with the commentary either.

Recently Indian players have been pretty vocal about their displeasures with the reporters. MS Dhoni had harsh comments for a reporter after a close game against Bangladesh. Suresh Raina and Ravichandran Ashwin have also taken jibes at the scribes when they were asked to comment on something.

It seems that the current crop of players is in a mood to have a go at the reporters and they are leaving no page unturned.