Harsha Bhogle

[SJS50]

"I just wonder" "I just get the feeling" "I just wonder" "I just get the feeling" "I just wonder" "I just get the feeling" "I just wonder" "I just get the feeling" "I just wonder" "I just get the feeling" :wall: :wall: What an annoying commentator.

You said it. He was a pretty decent writer actually. God knows why he shifted to commentary and what the hell do ESPN - Star see in him ??

[SJS50]

HE has to realize in TV commentary he doesn't have to talk every second. It is not radio commentary where you have to constantly fill the air.

He cant help it. He is in love with his voice. There are two people in India who think they must speak for the public is simply dying to hear them - Harsha Bhogle and Navjot "GawdHelpUs!!!" Siddhu

[Roshanrocks]

i guess every commentator has a favorite set of words that they like using.... you wont find him annoying if u concentrate on the cricket and stop trying to nitpick every word and sentence he says

[SJS50]

The guy is not an idiot you know. He is actually one of the brightest ones amongst the Indian commentators. But he has a problem - he has too many complexes. He is complexed about his looks (and how little women look at him) so you will find him keeping on coming with the most stupid 'smart-alec-remarks' which give him away almost every time a really attractive woman is highlighted by the cameramen from the crowd. The other is his complex of being closetted with cricketing stars. He just cant get over the fact that Gavaskar, Shastri etc are Test stars while all he did was play for his house at school. With the result, talking of school teams, what the coach at school used to tell them etc are a recurring feature. But more than that, he tries to make up his "I-am-a-cricketing-nobody" phobia by trying to make up with what he thinks (rightly most of the time) is his only edge over Indian cricketer turned commentators - the English language. Unfortunately in is desperation to keep us bombarded with his language (read his voice, words, cliches etc) he has made us so irritated that someone who was considered a surprisingly good commentator when he first came is public enemy umber one amongst the discerning. I suspect thast when he came to the industry he just loved being there and it was easy to just be himself. As his importance grew so did his complexes. It did not bother him early on if Gavaskar the legend was in the same room as him. I remember him saying "I am their as the non-striker" without the non-striker the batsman at the wicket cant complete a single run. But as he was considered a celebrity in his own right by the electronic media, he started seeing if he could bat for himself and got into a mess.

[thevortex]

The guy is not an idiot you know. He is actually one of the brightest ones amongst the Indian commentators. But he has a problem - he has too many complexes. He is complexed about his looks (and how little women look at him) so you will find him keeping on coming with the most stupid 'smart-alec-remarks' which give him away almost every time a really attractive woman is highlighted by the cameramen from the crowd. The other is his complex of being closetted with cricketing stars. He just cant get over the fact that Gavaskar, Shastri etc are Test stars while all he did was play for his house at school. With the result, talking of school teams, what the coach at school used to tell them etc are a recurring feature. But more than that, he tries to make up his "I-am-a-cricketing-nobody" phobia by trying to make up with what he thinks (rightly most of the time) is his only edge over Indian cricketer turned commentators - the English language. Unfortunately in is desperation to keep us bombarded with his language (read his voice, words, cliches etc) he has made us so irritated that someone who was considered a surprisingly good commentator when he first came is public enemy umber one amongst the discerning. I suspect thast when he came to the industry he just loved being there and it was easy to just be himself. As his importance grew so did his complexes. It did not bother him early on if Gavaskar the legend was in the same room as him. I remember him saying "I am their as the non-striker" without the non-striker the batsman at the wicket cant complete a single run. But as he was considered a celebrity in his own right by the electronic media, he started seeing if he could bat for himself and got into a mess.

I dont know that there is cause for this much doom and gloom, SJS :). Yes, he has fallen by the wayside compared to his own previous form with the microphone. I hate his contrived excitement delivered with a child's enthusiasm (seemingly) which is supposed to affect us the viewers. But then it becomes apparent that his demeanour is just about as genuine as his hair style. But the fact is he is still among the top 3 commentators of our age. I know that it is not a bright reflection on what we have today. But still... It also has to be said that from time to time, he does come out with gems. I still think there was only one comment in all of IPL worth hearing. And that was from Bhogle. He said there were only 1100 tigers left and that by the end of the tournament it was likely that there would be more sixes hit than the number of tigers remaining. I guess it did not turn out that way but what he wanted as a commentator was a way of startling the average viewer and impinge upon him the 'tiger' cause. And that he did. In style.

[DomainK]

Never good enough for you, huh? You guys deserve Siva, Lal and Rameez.

[SJS50]

I dont know that there is cause for this much doom and gloom, SJS :). Yes, he has fallen by the wayside compared to his own previous form with the microphone. I hate his contrived excitement delivered with a child's enthusiasm (seemingly) which is supposed to affect us the viewers. But then it becomes apparent that his demeanour is just about as genuine as his hair style. But the fact is he is still among the top 3 commentators of our age. I know that it is not a bright reflection on what we have today. But still... .

Its not doom and gloom you know. I am actually disappointed for he had so much promise. We are not very well known for producing great commentators, not in the TV era at least. So being amongst the top 3 or 5 amongst the Indians is no big deal. With our cricket, our cricket broadcast, our TV, our sponsors all monopolising cricket broadcast, its pretty disappointing that our standards of commentating are so low. As I said, he is one of the brightest guys thats why the disappointment is so much greater. He still writes pretty well though he invariably puts in at least one external example ot compare the cricketing situation with a non-cricketing one. So contrived do they appear at times that they take away from otherwise well written features. His commentary is, I am afraid not good for me. But for being slightly negative towards Indian cricket and Sachin in particular, I would say Manjrekar is our best today by far. After that there is a big gap. Amongst those who speak in after match shows on the telly there are some surprisingly good ones (it has nothing to do with agreeing with them all the time) in Ajay Jadeja and Atul Wasson. They are not cowed down by the others, speak for themselves and cogently but dont do it just to express a different point of view every time. The other day I heard Jadeja and Dean Jones on a post IPL final programme and it was really good to see Jadeja more than hold his own.

[thevortex]

Well, yes, after a while the bobbing head and blinking eyes and eternally-cheerful-looking smile can get tiring. I still think among the commentators of this age, he has got the best voice. Mellow and rich without being deep, boomy or overtly authoritative. Just the right mix in my opinion. What he does with the voice - yes that needs improvement. But i doubt it will be forthcoming. Jadeja and Atul Wassan? Atul Wassan has very limited command of the language. He makes some interesting points but he is way too pushy in the stints that I have seen him. Jadeja - I have seen him make completely crass comments especially when he was on air after the World Cup fiasco. He lost all respect in my eyes after some of the cheap shots that he indulged in. When he puts his mind to it, he is quite a clear speaker on all things cricket. To me, Arun Lal comes out looking better in comparison with the above two. It is not even a contest. With Lal you get an empathetic former cricketer in tune with the times as well as being able to bring out the complexities of the situation faced by the cricketers. It helps that I am one of those who actually like his occasional flurries into the world of the birds and animals :). I seriously do not understand the insane amount of criticism that Arun Lal gets!! What is with that??

[Chandan]

But for being slightly negative towards Indian cricket and Sachin in particular, I would say Manjrekar is our best today by far. After that there is a big gap. Amongst those who speak in after match shows on the telly there are some surprisingly good ones (it has nothing to do with agreeing with them all the time) in Ajay Jadeja and Atul Wasson. They are not cowed down by the others, speak for themselves and cogently but dont do it just to express a different point of view every time. The other day I heard Jadeja and Dean Jones on a post IPL final programme and it was really good to see Jadeja more than hold his own.

I don't like Manjrekar either. His commentary and analysis are not suited for limited over cricket where he can sound the opinion only of an ultra defensive batsman. When it comes to bowling or captaincy, he goes blank. What part of his commentary do you like? It is so negative. But then do we have choice? Amidst the cliche king Shastri who mostly blabbers nonsense and Harsha who tries to sound too poetic instead of being on the button during the game, even Manjrekar sounds preferable. Your choice of Jadeja is good. Not sure about Wassan though, as I've heard him in Hindi commentary during domestic matches. Why can't ESS get few good foreign commentators? I really liked Warne in the commentary during Ashes and also during matches played in Oz. He would know all the Indian players quite well and can give his comments there. Is he too expensive? And the ESS coverage is extremely poor and pre match shows are worse. Wonder why they abandoned their in field model of having those shows with Harsha as anchor and experts from within the commentary team! This time the entire telecast is hugely disappointing with no speed guns, super slow motions, hot spots etc. Even Hawk-eye replay is quite delayed.

[EnterTheVoid]

This time the entire telecast is hugely disappointing with no speed guns' date=' super slow motions, hot spots etc. Even Hawk-eye replay is quite delayed.[/quote'] Why is that, aren't they the standard nowadays ? I don't know about other broadcasters but the coverage on Star Sports is weak, they seem to want to cram as many ads as possible.

[The Dark Horse]

Never good enough for you' date=' huh? You guys deserve Siva, Lal and Rameez.[/quote'] :cantstop: you missed Arnold

[vroomfondel]

Harsha has become the brown mark nicholas -- with about half the eloquence (and self-awareness) and double the enthusiasm. I always saw his role as the interviewer, rather than the commentator. He would be the 'straight man' that set up the former greats like Boycs. Those England tours in the 90's where Harsha would address Boycs with, "A little bird tells me that as young lad in Yorkshire, the distinguished gentleman to my left was bowled first ball by ______...tell us a bit about that then Geoffery". I think the psychoanalysis of Harsha Bhogle is misdirected. I don't think there has been a massive change in his approach, it's just a jadedness and lack of creativity that has pervaded all cricket broadcasting in India. Whether it is too much cricket, or the incredibly low standards of the viewing public, or a broken system (most definitely a broken system) of cricket government in India, I am not sure, but it is certain that we are subjected to the worst production out of any other english speaking country. This opium addled Indian viewership (of which we are firmly entrenched cogs) deserves much more amateur psychology than poor Harsha. In particular, the question of 'why the hell do we put up with such shyte?' comes to mind. How I would kill for a team like Sky have: Nasser Hussain, Bumble, Atherton, Holding. effin brilliant. I think ESPN could manage a half-decent commentary team with Akash Chopra, Sanjay Manjrekar, Pommie Mbangwa, Ian Bishop, Harsha Bhogle (severed toned down), Chappelli. Keep the lids firmly on those boxes of cliches -- Ramiz Raja, Ravi 'tracer bullet' Shastri, Sunil Gavaskar, Arun Lal, Dean Jones, Danny Morrison,and the others... Don't mind me, I'll keep dreaming.

[Parth]

One of the best commentators on the international scene

[flamy]

I like 'im.

[Gunner_Mania]

And the ESS coverage is extremely poor and pre match shows are worse. Wonder why they abandoned their in field model of having those shows with Harsha as anchor and experts from within the commentary team!

I don't know about the ESS pre match shows currently on, but this was the bit I enjoyed about Harsha. More of an anchor than a commentator. I follow him on Twitter & some of his tweets not all mind you seem like they come from an entirely different animal and not the one that is commentating these days. He was seriously good in his early days on ESS and it is really disappointing to see him as a pale shadow of his earlier days.

[Zelig]

I liked his baldness:love: but now that he has "grown" his hair back, I detest him:mad:

[Zelig]

ESS' pre-match show is for funz and stuffz. Cyrus does crack some good ones at times but that Sonali kiddo doesn have any revealing parts to keep us interested. Having said that she tries very hard to show things that aren't there...someone has to remind her, "You can only eat what's on the plate."

[Gunner_Mania]

Chandan - I was debating whether to give Harsha the the link to this thread, Looks like you beat me to it :)

[Chandan]

Chandan - I was debating whether to give Harsha the the link to this thread' date=' Looks like you beat me to it :)[/quote'] Yeah!:--D Apart from usual complaining posts, there have been few constructive posts as well. So I thought I must pass it on to him on twitter where I'm not that regular. It is only the lack of good debates on ICF these days which is driving me there to follow few journalists whom I like. What would he have thought? I hope it'd not have hurt him!

[thevortex]

Harsha has become the brown mark nicholas -- with about half the eloquence (and self-awareness) and double the enthusiasm.

Harsha Bhogle with half the eloquence of Mark Nicholas??? I dont agree with that. Also Harsha deserves enormous plus points for being non-partisan. Mark Nicholas in comparison practically fawns over anything that is yellow and remotely associated with a particular marsupial!!