This year Indian Premier League( IPL) will miss the familiar voice of commentator Harsha Bhogle. The 54 year old commentator who has been part of IPL since season 1 will miss the 9th edition of the tournament as his contract has been terminated by the BCCI. This decision came as a surprise to many as 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 officals remain tight- lipped about the ouster. Sources inside the BCCI said about an incident which occurred during India’s opening WorldT20 game at Nagpur last month, where Bhogle is reported to have had a heated exchange with a Vidharbha Cricket Association official. They felt this could be the reason for his last-minute ouster.
Harsha speaking to the media said that he is unaware of any reason of why he is being sacked, and when told about the reference to the Nagpur incident he had this to say
Even if it was the Nagpur incident, no one heard my part of the story.
Harsha announced about this on Twitter yesterday.
Would have been nice to be part of @IPL again. Was in fact looking forward to it. Favourite tournament. Hope #IPL9 is a blockbuster.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 9, 2016
Ever since the announcement twitter has been flooded with user backing Harsha and Slamming BCCI. A new trend #BringBackHarsha started trending on Twitter since morning today and the Twitteriti came out in full support of their favorite Cricket commentator.
Here’s a look at some of the latest Tweets.
@BCCI @ianuragthakur @ShuklaRajiv @SGanguly99 bring @bhogleharsha back, he is the best .. Ipl not same without him #BringBackHarsha
— Piyush Ray (@piyushray) April 10, 2016
commentary without Harsha Bhogle is like a food without Salt.. @bhogleharsha @BCCI #IPL2016#BringBackHarsha
— muzammil sandilkar (@yestomuzammil) April 10, 2016
Seriously @BCCI how can you keep d best @bhogleharsha out of #IPL9#BringBackHarsha
u wanna add sumthin @SrBachchan? pic.twitter.com/SMovynFEoT— Piyush Tripathi (@_piyushtripathi) April 10, 2016
https://twitter.com/pradeepmprs/status/719108253221670914
This isn't our loss. neither is it @BCCI 's
This is a loss to the cricket https://t.co/rbW7VahvFF has been let down.— Sonali S (@samtanisonali1) April 10, 2016
BCCI Sacked Harsha Bhogle For Praising Other Teams?What About His Support To India Since 2 Decades.#BringBackHarsha pic.twitter.com/3LTMReuDt5
— Sir Jadeja fan (@SirJadeja) April 10, 2016