Harsha Bhogle is the name that comes into everyone’s mind when one thinks about world-class cricket commentators. Bhogle started commentating at the age of 19 with All India Radio. Here we wrote about Harsha Bhogle biography, which will keep you interesting throughout the read.
As a turn in his carrier, Harsha Bhogle becomes the first Indian commentator to get invited by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation during India’s tour of Australia just before the 1992 world cup.
In the year of 1992, Harsha Bhogle was rated as a “sexiest voice on the radio” on a poll and some independent websites announced him as the number one commentator for that particular season.
Till date, Harsha Bhogle remains as one of the best cricket commentators who brings an on-field presence for the Television viewers.
Harsha Bhogle Biography
Real Name |
Harsha Bhogle |
Date of Birth |
19-Jul-1961 |
Birth Place |
Hyderabad, Telangana, India |
Hometown |
Hyderabad, India |
Nationality |
India |
Education |
B.Tech – Chemical Engineering, Osmania University’s College of Technology in Hyderabad |
| Post Graduate Diploma in Management, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad | |
Family |
Father – A.D. Bhogle |
| Mother – Shalini Bhogle | |
| Brother – Srinivas Bhogle | |
| Sister – Svati Bhogle | |
| Wife – Anita Bhogle | |
| Sons – Chinmay and Satchit | |
Favorite Cricketer |
Rahul Dravid(India) |
Hobbies |
Writing Blogs and Columns and Playing Cricket |
Religion |
Hinduism |
Salary(as of 2020), Broadcaster – ESPN Star Sports & ABC |
Fee per Match – $2,500(US Dollars) |
| Fee Per Series – $55,000(US Dollars) | |
| Annual Salary – $1 Million(US Dollars) | |
Books |
|
Early Life
With a non-cricket background family, Harsha Bhogle becomes an elite member of the cricket Commentator panel. Harsha Bhogle is the son of A.D Bhogle and Shalini Bhogle who were working as Psychology professors.
He completed his schooling at Hyderabad Public School and then completed his Chemical Engineering from Osmania University college and University in Hyderabad and done his PGDM from IIM Ahmedabad.
After his education, he joined an advertising agency and worked there for two years, and moved to a sports management company. Harsha Bhogle is married to Anita, his classmate from IIM-A on 3rd November 1985.
Career
- He started commentating at the age of 19 with All India Radio while living in Hyderabad.
- In 1991–92, he became the first Indian commentator to be invited by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation during India’s cricket series before the 1992 Cricket World Cup.
- He has since worked for ABC Radio Grandstand during India’s Australian tours, and for eight years worked for the BBC as part of their commentary team in the 1996 and the 1999 Cricket World Cups.
- Since 1995, he has been presenting live cricket from all around the world for ESPN STAR Sports and was part of the commentary team that included Ravi Shastri, Sunil Gavaskar, and Alan Wilkins along with Geoff Boycott and Navjot Singh Sidhu, for a few seasons, and later, Ian Chappell and Sanjay Manjrekar.
- He covered the 2011–12 series in Australia solely for ABC Radio.
- He has hosted television programs such as Harsha Online, Harsha Unplugged and School Quiz Olympiad for ESPN and Star Sports.
- Bhogle had a Television program named after him, “Harsha ki khoj”(“Harsha’s Quest”), that strove to find broadcasting talent in India.
- Bhogle expanded his online presence by hosting Out of the Box with Harsha Bhogle on YouTube.
- Bhogle was voted the favourite TV cricket commentator by Cricinfo users based on a worldwide poll.
- Bhogle has also anchored BBC’s travel serial Travel India and Business Today Acumen Business Quiz and Debate competitions.
- Bhogle was the advisor to the Mumbai Indians for the 2008 IPL.
- Bhogle has been covering all Indian Premier League seasons since 2009.
- He was dropped from the commentary team by BCCI in April 2016 due to alleged criticism from Indian players.
- On 10 April 2016, his IPL contract as a commentator was terminated. The decision came as a surprise for the voice of Indian cricket since he had conducted the Season 9 draft auction, featured in the league’s promotional videos, was in the commentators’ 51-day-long duty roster, and even had his flight booked by the production house.
- BCCI officials said Bhogle had an angry exchange with a cricket official at the venue as he wanted him to open the door, and this reached the Nagpur-based BCCI president Shashank Manohar. Those in the know said this incident was the trigger that resulted in Bhogle losing out.
- Bhogle has published and authored a number of books, including a biography of Mohammad Azharuddin and a collection of columns in The Indian Express, Out of the Box – Watching the Game We Love, and is also a columnist for the Chennai-based “The Sportstar” a subsidiary of The Hindu Group of Publications under the title “Hitting Hard” by Bhogle. (2009).
- Bhogle has presented the program TRAVEL INDIA WITH HARSHA BHOGLE on the Discovery Channel and TLC.
- In the 2011 World Cup held in India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, he anchored the pre and post-match shows that featured Simon Hughes, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Sunil Gavaskar, Tony Greig, and Sourav Ganguly.
- In 2013, he was given the seat in commentary by Ian Bishop to conduct the final interviews when Sachin Tendulkar played his final test.
- Bhogle currently hosts a weekly show called “This Week’s Special” aired on Star Sports. The show takes the viewers back in time to make them relive cricketing memories from the past. The first episode was aired from 1 October 2015.
- He has been a part of Times Group subsidiary Cricbuzz since 2016 and writes articles as well as doing video analyses with them.
- Bhogle is currently one of the Board of Governors of IIM Udaipur.
- On 16 May 2019, he was named among the 24 commentators for the 2019 ICC World Cup held in England and Wales.
- During the 2nd test of Bangladesh’s tour of India, the 1st D/N test of both Indian and Bangladeshi cricket teams, a few Bangladeshi batsmen were struck by the pink ball.
- Bhogle raised concerns about the visibility of the ball, with Sanjay Manjrekar, his fellow commentator, replying that only people like Bhogle would need to ask such questions as they have not played at that level.
- This on-air spat raised many eyebrows. Due to this, along with his “bits and pieces” remark towards Ravindra Jadeja during the 2019 ICC World Cup, Manjrekar was removed from the BCCI’s list of commentators ahead of the 2020 India – South Africa ODI Series, that got postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Famous Quotes on Harsha Bhogle
Bhogle being an extraordinary cricket commentator receives praises from various cricket players as well as from sports media groups. Following are some of the famous quotes over Bhogle:
- The Hindustan Times said “Warne and Bhogle are one. They made a complicated and tricky art appear easy, prompting many imitations, but no true successors.”
- The Hindustan Times while ranking him no 1 called him “the average Joe who has become the icon of cricket commentary”.
- The Deccan Herald said “In many ways, Bhogle is a pioneer, the man who put Indian radio and television commentating on the world map”.
- Adam Gilchrist called him “India’s Richie Benaud equivalent and the guru of cricket from India”.
- Sachin Tendulkar said “I have realized that speaking to him sometimes opens up completely different perspectives in addition to the ones I already have…”
- Cricinfo said he has “the boy-next-door image. Once he found his feet in television, he became the first superstar of the game in India who was not actually a player”
Lesser Known Facts about Harsha Bhogle
- Bhogle has been a student of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
- Bhogle started his career as a cricket player for the APCA and had played small-level cricket.
- Harsha Bhogle used to play cricket for the APCA and also he played for the Osmania University along with Mohammad Azharuddin.
- He did not go well in Cricket and later he staffed commentating at the age of 19 with All
India Radio in Hyderabad. - Before the 1992 Cricket World Cup in 1991—92, he became the first Indian commentator to be invited by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation during India’s cricket series.
- Since then Bhogle has worked for ABC Radio Grandstand during India’s Australian tours,
and for eight years Bhogle worked for the BBC as part of their commentary team in the 1996 and the 1999 Cricket World Cups. - Bhogle has been commentating for ESPN STAR Sports since 1995.
- Since 2009, Harsha has been covering all Indian Premier League but dropped in 2016 by
BCCI due to alleged criticism from Indian players. - In 2010 Harsha Bhogle was named “The greatest icon of cricket commendatory“.
- Readers of Cricinfo voted him as their “most favourite commentator”.
- He was the only one to feature among the top three in each of the categories – ‘favourite commentator”, “most unbiased”, “most insightful” and “most entertaining”
- Bhogle has hosted many TV programs such as Harsha Online, Harsha Unplugged and
School Quiz Olympiad for ESPN and Star Sports. - Bhogle has authored numerous books incorporating a biography of Mohammad Azhamddin and a collection of columns in The Indian Express, Out of the Box — Watching the Game We Love and is also a columnist for the Chennai-based “The Sportstar”.
- Bhogle and his wife Anita Bhogle have written a book titled The Winning Way; it is based on business knowledge drawn from the sporting world.
- He has, at various times, been in brand commercials for Pepsi, Hero Honda, Airtel, Tata-AIG, Sugar-Free, Procter & Gamble (for Vicks), has done brand promotions for Vodafone, Cadbury, IBM among many others and is now a brand ambassador for Castrol and Boehringer Ingelheim (Stroke Awareness)
- In his career Bhogle has commented on more than four Hundred One day Internationals and over a hundred test matches and in plenty and associated with T20 formats since India played their first T20 match against South Africa.
Awards
- ITA Award for Best Anchor Commentator (Sports) – 2001, 2003
- ITA Award for Best Sports Personality of the year – 2008
