Harsha Bhogle.
Credit: X/@bhogleharsha
Prior to the Indian Premier League (IPL) match between the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and the Gujarat Titans (GT) on Monday, reports emerged stating that Harsha Bhogle and Simon Doull will not be part of the commentary panel after allegedly being banned by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) over their controversial comments regarding the pitch. Bhogle has responded to the claims stating that he and the former New Zealand player were not banned.
In a post on X, he stated, “There are some inappropriate conclusions being drawn” regarding his absence from Monday’s game. He added that he simply wasn’t assigned to cover the match by the broadcaster. He added that “Rosters are done before the tournament starts. I was rostered for two games in Kolkata. I was there for the first and an illness in the family prevented me from being at the 2nd.”
Bhogle stated that confusion could have been avoided if someone simply had asked him about the allegations.
The controversy involving the two commentators started after they claimed that KKR are not getting proper home advantage and the Eden Gardens pitch is not helping their spin bowlers. Doull even suggested that KKR should move out of Eden Gardens if the pitch didn’t support their playing style.
Ajinkya Rahane, KKR’s captain, has disliked the pitch of Eden Gardens throughout this season. After their match with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Rahane stated that their demands for a spin-friendly pitch were not being met by the curator. KKR wanted a more spin-friendly track to suit their bowlers like Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy.
Despite this, Eden Gardens pitch curator Sujan Mukherjee defended the pitch by saying that pitches are curated according to BCCI guidelines and not per the say of franchises. He added that no player or coach from KKR had asked for the pitch requirement for the first match.