Since its arrival to the subcontinent by Parsis and subsequently the Britishers in the mid 18th century, the sport of Cricket has become the most widely beloved activity for us Indians. From the gulley cricket to the International championships, the excitement and rush for the game never loses its charm. But, what is the proper method to approach the sport, which has been honoured with the title of a ‘Gentleman’s Game’? Hear it from India’s senior cricket commentator and journalist, the one and only Harsha Bhogle himself.
Harsha Bhogle was present at the Manthan India summit back in December 2019, where he was speaking about his involvement with the sport. While he talked about his days of playing the sport in his youth, he also stated his opinion on how to be emotionally attach with cricket, while despising the colloquial chest thumping aggression with cricket and drawing similarity of a cricket match with war.
Check out Harsha’s speech in the video below, uploaded on FaceBook by the official page of diigital video publisher Brut India.
Harsha Bhogle On How Much Cricket He’s Played
“I have no issue with answering how much cricket I have played.” Not too long ago Sanjay Manjrekar tried to shut down Harsha Bhogle by saying he hadn’t played any first-class cricket. Here is what Bhogle said on the subject recently…
Posted by Brut India on Friday, January 3, 2020
A graduate from Osmania University in Hyderabad and later a PGDM postgraduate from Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Bhogle spoke about how he was a regular target for not having a professional cricketing background, despite having played the sport back in his academic years.
This was an obvious big back at fellow commentator Sanjay Manjrekar, who recently apologised for his words on Harsha regarding the heated debate on the historical pink ball test match between India and Bangladesh at Eden Gardens. Manjrekar had lambasted Harsha’s opinion on the matter by indicating his non-cricketing background.
However, the most influential subject Harsha spoke on was how cricket should be received by the Indian population, and that the sport should be taken as a medium of friendship and not rivalry.
“And yet at the end of a Test match, what happens? People shake hands. People shake hands and go. That is the best thing and I hope that never goes out of our cricket. Because cricket is only a game.” Harsha said.
Next, he denounced the way some fans give too much importance to it and compare it to war: “And that is why I hate it, absolutely hate it, when people give war parallels to cricket. I cannot stand those promos which talk about ‘We will put our life on stake and do that…’ No. Its a game.”
“Let’s take a pledge we will never ever equate a sport to war. It isn’t. Its only a game.” he added.
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