Reports: BCCI to hire only former cricketers for commentary

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) seems to have changed its commentator hiring policy. As far as the panel selected for the ongoing Test series between India and Windies is concerned, it suggests the same as there is a notable absentee of the veteran cricket expert Harsha Bhogle. He wasn’t the part of the Asia Cup as well and the cricket board might’ve taken a conscious decision of not engaging any neutral experts for the commentary.

In the ongoing Test series, the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Sanjay Manjrekar, L Sivaramakrishnan, Murali Karthik and Deep Dasgupta, all former cricketers, are part of the world feed for the game. Also, Ian Bishop and Darren Ganga, who have played for Windies previously have flown in from the Caribbean islands for the series. Bhogle was present during the recent India-England series but the broadcast was from the different production team and for a different channel (Sony).

I have taken a break

Harsha Bhogle has not had a great relationship with BCCI of late as he was removed from the panel controversially by them after the World T20 in 2016 only to call him back for the IPL earlier this year. When Bhogle was asked about being snubbed for the ongoing series, he avoided getting into any kind of controversy and according to Mumbai Mirror, said, “I have taken a break.”

When one of the Star India officials was asked about the same he was of the opinion that the question should be asked to the BCCI who actually take all these decisions.

As far as the neutral commentators are concerned, the board had previously opted the policy of roping in the experts from the third country. The likes of Simon Doull and Matthew Hayden have donned the experts’ hat during the earlier home seasons while Jonathan Trott also appeared out of nowhere during the India-Sri Lanka series last year.

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