Harsha Bhogle finally opens up about his tiff with Amitabh Bachchan

Harsha Bhogle has undoubtedly been one of the most popular Indian cricket commentators of all time. People were shocked when he was abruptly sacked from the job following the 2016 ICC World Twenty20. While neither the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) nor Bhogle came out in public and spoke about the reason behind his ouster, it wasn't very hard to guess where it all began.

Following India's thrilling one-run victory over Bangladesh in the World Cup, Amitabh Bachchan tweeted that Indian commentators should be focusing more on Indian players and not the opponent team.

The then Indian skipper, M.S. Dhoni, retweeted the tweet and it started a movement on its own when many more influential people supported Big B on his stand.

Nearly a year after his ousting from the commentary box, Harsha Bhogle finally opened up about the whole incident and said:

No one told me what the matter (the reason for his sacking) was. If someone had said `You're not good enough', that would've been fine. Some big players have been told that. Suppose I was told I violated a broadcasting ethic, even that would have been fine. But nobody could look me in the face and tell me, `This is the reason'. Eventually, I said if that's what it is, that's what it is. It's been the biggest learning experience of my career. Offers started coming right away. Everyone thinks doors are shut, which is true, but windows are open.

Talking about his misunderstanding with Amitabh Bachchan, Bhogle revealed that he had personally sent a message to the actor and explained why he chose to speak about the Bangladeshi team:

We are different people in different situations. I actually wrote to Mr Bachchan. I sent him a DM saying how for the past 40 years I have admired him. When I was in college in Hyderabad, and if his film was releasing on Friday, a friend of mine would bunk class on Monday to get tickets for the Saturday show. I also admired him for the dignity with which he carried himself. And I said in the message to him that given a chance, I will be happy to come and explain things to him. Mr Bachchan replied with a long and polite message.

What I did explain to him was that on the Hindi telecast, we were very India-centric, though not biased, because the telecast was going only to this market. But we couldn't do that with the English telecast, as it was going to various countries. In the past, Indian listeners would get angry when foreign commentators did not speak enough about the Indian team.