Harsha Bhogle, with his outstanding spontaneity, quick wit, ever smiling face and extra ordinary eloquence has brought a special charm to commentary. He is regarded as Indian cricket’s first non-player celebrity.

Index – Itz All About ‘Harsha Bhogle’

– Harsha’s Profile:

Date of Birth: 19-July-1961

Father: A D Bhogle, a Professor of French

Mother: Shalini Bhogle, a Professor of Psychology

Family: Maharashtrian Konkanastha Brahmin family. Marathi speaking family.

Spouse: Anita (His batchmate at IIM-A)

Children: Chinmay and Satchit (Two sons)

Studies: Till graduation Harsha studied in Hyderabad. He did his schooling at Hyderabad Public School. Graduation in Chemical Engineering at Osmania University in Hyderabad (1983) and Post Graduation from the prestigious Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (1985). He also obtained an advanced diploma in French (with distinction) in 1979.

– Harsha played cricket for his school in the senior division in Hyderabad for three years and represented Osmania University in the All-India Inter University Cricket Tournament. He was later captain of the IIM-A cricket team.

Fielding was his passion. He says – “I loved fielding from the bottom of my heart. Have you heard the ‘cluck’ sound that a ball makes on hitting the bat? I used to fantasise about the sound of it hitting my palm. And being a fielder meant I could be friends with everybody. The bowlers loved anybody who could save them even a single run.I knew there would be batsmen who would be better than me, there would be bowlers who would be more talented than me, so I wanted to make a mark in fielding. I used to count how many times the ball got past me during a year or how many catches I dropped in a year”

Harsha, Mohammed Azharuddin and former Test Cricketer Arshad Ayub were in the same Osmania University team. And one passion that the Hyderabadis used to share was fielding.

– After playing seven years of Cricket at College and University level, he gave up. People used to praise his skills but he was not confident enough. But he feels that this experience has helped him while commenting on the game.

– He was equally focused on studies. In school his favourite subjects were Chemistry and English.

– Advertising was his first love. At 21-22, he did not receive the interview letter from IIM, Ahmedabad. But when his father forced him to call and enquire, he found out that his name was in the list, but the letter hadn’t reached. So you see, it wasn’t luck alone, but also the fact that he made the effort to call. While studying there, one could find him on the footpath outside the IIMA campus, sipping cup of tea at famous roadside tea stall there. He graduated from IIM-A in 1985.

– After graduating from IIM-A he joined Rediffusion Advertising in 1985 as an advertising executive and worked there for two and a half years before working with Professional Management Group for an equal period. So,after working in advertising for two years and in a sports management firm for another two years he moved into the world of broadcasting.

– When he was 19 he got an opportunity as Commentator for Ranji Trophy matches for All India Radio, Hyderabad. His first commentary stint was the Ranji Trophy Match played between Hyderabad and Kerala. He covered his first Test Match as a commentator for Doordarshan while doing his MBA.

In 1991-92, he became the first Indian commentator to be invited by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation during India’s cricket series before the Benson & Hedges World Cup. He did freelancing. Then he was recognized as a top telivision commentator. His presence helped boost ratings of ABC. He also did assignments for BBC. He was invited to join commentary team in 1996, 1999 World Cups. Since 1994, he has been the main presenter for most of the Cricket tournaments on ESPN-STAR Sports.

– He used to admire Sunil Gavaskar a lot. In those days transistor was their best friend. When ever Gavaskar got out he used to switch it off. Once Gavaskar hit three second innings centuries which took away valuable hours of Harsha’s ISC preparation. Had it not been for Sunny’s relatively smaller contributions in the first innings, which led to the switching off of transistor, Harsha would have struggled even more with his preparation.

Long back he succeeded in getting a pass to Moin-ud-Daulah tournament. He went there along with his cousin, Srikant. Luckily his cousin got a shake hand from Sunil Gavaskar. Harsha was jealous of him for this for many years. Harsha says, “We have all had heroes. We have all wanted to be someone else. But there was nobody I wanted to be more than I wanted to be Sunil Gavaskar. I had to wait another fourteen years before I could shake hands with him.”

– Some people opine that Harsha used to stay in Ameerpet area in Hyderabad.

– Harsha Bhogle was voted by Gentleman Magazine as one of “50 men you want to know better”, and by Outlook as one of “eight people who have changed the way their profession is perceived”.

– Regarding Live Commentary he says that being unprepared helped him. Initially he used to compete with others but soon realized that you can’t comment on a reverse swing when Wasim Akram is sitting next to you. He understood that if he makes them look better, he’ll look better himself.

– He hosts television programs such as Harsha Online and Harsha Unplugged and refreshingly combines the talents of Oprah Winfrey and Richie Benaud in the roles of presenter, quizmaster, interviewer, panellist and commentator.

– He is a vegetarian by choice. when he was 17, he turned vegetarian. He used to walk through a lane where there were meat shops. One day he thought why to kill these innocent birds for taste. But he is not an activist vegetarian. Interestingly his wife and two kids are Non-vegetarians.

– He says that he would not have made it big if he had entered the trade now.

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