Harsha Bhogle is one of the most famous and most loved cricket commentators of the present times but recently he found himself in a controversy after he was absent from KKR home game.
Amid swirling rumours and headlines suggesting fallout, Harsha Bhogle has taken to social media to clarify the reason behind his absence from the Eden Gardens during Kolkata Knight Riders’ recent match against Gujarat Titans. Addressing the chatter, Harsha Bhogle stressed that his non-appearance had nothing to do with the off-field controversy brewing around the stadium’s pitch.
“Some inappropriate conclusions are being drawn about why I wasn’t at yesterday’s game in Kolkata. Quite simply, it wasn’t on the list of matches I was down to do! Asking me would have resolved the issue,” Harsha Bhogle posted on Tuesday morning. His comments came a day after reports surfaced revealing a letter from the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) to the BCCI, allegedly requesting the exclusion of Harsha Bhogle and fellow commentator Simon Doull from assignments at the Eden Gardens.
The letter, reportedly sent by the CAB secretary Naresh Ojha around ten days earlier, followed critical on-air remarks by the two commentators about the Eden Gardens pitch. Both Harsha Bhogle and Simon Doull had expressed concern that the surface wasn’t tailored to Kolkata Knight Riders’ strengths and these were the comments which did not sit well with the state association.
In his clarification, Harsha Bhogle added further context, “Rosters are done before the tournament starts. I was rostered for two games in Kolkata. I was there for the first, and an illness in the family prevented me from being at the 2nd.”
https://x.com/bhogleharsha/status/1914538752044564588
The controversy traces back to comments made after the first home fixture of the season, where the pitch was criticised for not suiting KKR’s spin-heavy attack. Both head coach Chandrakant Pandit and captain Ajinkya Rahane have voiced their frustration over the lack of a conducive surface, urging for pitches that better support bowlers like Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine and Moeen Ali.
While the CAB stood by their curator Sujan Mukherjee, Simon Doull went as far as suggesting that KKR might need to consider relocating if their requests continued to be overlooked. Harsha Bhogle, in a similar vein, remarked that the team deserved to benefit from home advantage — comments that reportedly prompted the CAB’s formal complaint.
On the field, Kolkata’s woes continued in the latest match as they succumbed to a 39-run defeat, with their frontline spinners failing to claim a single wicket. As they prepare to face Punjab Kings at the Eden Gardens on April 26, all eyes will be on both — the pitch and the performances that follow.
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