Cricket Commentator Harsha Bhogle Takes a Dig at Team India Over Calling Off England Test Match

Bhogle has had a love-hate relationship with the Indian cricket board. While he has been one of the loved voices in cricket over the years, Bhogle was unceremoniously sacked as commentator by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2016.

A tweet by noted Indian cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle appears to have stirred a storm on the microblogging site after the 60-year-old took an indirect dig at the BCCI and the Indian cricket team for not playing the fifth Test in England due to COVID-19 fears.

After the tweet, a section of the Indian cricket lovers have come out with their own interpretations of Bhogle's remarks with some of them saying that "cricket was in a mess" while others insisted that a "lot of money was at stake" and hence the decision of Indian players wasn't a surprise.

Bhogle has been known for not holding himself up while sharing his thoughts and perhaps that's what he did on Tuesday.

In his post, Bhogle remarked "cricket has so many stress points", before moving on to franchised leagues, which he claimed were protected by a particular country to save "its finances".

Cricket has so many stress points. 3 formats for a start, world events where the ICC is a stakeholder, bilateral events where 2 teams have a stake & franchised leagues where one country will protect its finances. Then, Covid! No use pointing fingers, the stress is in the system.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) September 14, 2021

That’s a rubbish excuse & you know it.
They are saying mental health and not Covid; yet they didn’t go home to have rest? Or just get away from the game like Stokes has?
They didn’t field a team 2 hours before the game & hopped on planes 24 hours later to play IPL.
Money talks

— Slog Sweeper (@the_slogsweeper) September 14, 2021

Sadly though, the interest of the cricket fans seems to be getting lost in this mess. I sincerely hope that cricket administrators keep the fans at the epicenter while making any of the decisions. Without fans, the sport is as good as nothing.

— Anand Dixit (@adixitstat) September 14, 2021

This stress earns millions of rupees to all players and stakeholders, look at the lifestyle of modern Indian cricketer!!! I am ready to take this much stress if I get this much money. On a serious note, this is money making business and all involved are earning handsomely.

— Samir Shah (@1406Samir) September 14, 2021

The stress is in the #IPL. Because of it, international fixtures are compromised. You guys will not accept it but that's the fucking truth.

— Rohit Pandey (@mniROHIT) September 14, 2021

The stress lies in ridiculous scheduling.
Bilateral series between 12 nations + 3 formats + franchise leagues simply cannot coexist.
Something must reduce. Quality already suffering.
Look at football. Only club leagues + a few inter-nation tournaments. Virtually no bilaterals.

— Daraius Ardeshir (@DEArdeshir) September 14, 2021

Bhogle's comments actually intensified an ongoing debate in which Virat Kohli-led national cricket team evoked criticism for its decision to abandon the fifth Test match of the India-England series in Manchester last week.

But some Team India fans opted to blast Bhogle for targeting Kohli and his team despite the outbreak of COVID in the Indian camp.

Harsha if it was other way around you would be the first one screaming about money over sports! But it’s cool we know what happened and English board wasn’t ready for IPL 2.0 when they planned the summer test tour!

— steve shadski (@SShadski) September 14, 2021

I think ECB and and English media and few vested interests are simply making a mountain out of a molehill! Entire tours have got cancelled out of covid but still a fuss over a test! Players were already brave enough to play 4th test despite covid outbreak in the camp!

— KIRAN PATIL (@KP_The_Thinker) September 14, 2021

While the team's head coach Ravi Shastri, batting coach Vikram Rathour, bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach Ramakrishnan Sridhar were quarantined after their positive tests before the fourth Test match, it was senior physiotherapist Nitin Patel's infection which led to the cancellation of the final Test.

Patel was in close contact with the squad a day before his reports came out positive, which petrified Indian cricketers to an extent that they didn't want to take the field.

Before the match's cancellation, India was leading the series 2-1, but the result of the final Test is not known yet.

While the BCCI is insisting that the series is still alive, requesting the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to reschedule the game, the English board has asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) to intervene in the matter.

Even former English cricketers, including the legendary David Gower had slammed the Indian side after they chose to skip the match despite their RT-PCR reports returned negative.

"Wow! No one, least of all I, saw that coming. It leads us into unprecedented territories. I mean I know other matches have been abandoned… sometimes a few balls bowled and various other circumstances but to have the thing called off at the last moment – Virat Kohli e-mailed the BCCI at midnight the day before – the whole sequence of events needs explaining a little bit better," Gower told Indian media on Monday.

The negativity around Kohli and his men has hit unprecedented heights in the past few days after the cricketers were seen smiling and having fun while being flown to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in chartered flights for the Indian Premier League (IPL), the world's richest cricket tournament.

The IPL was suspended in May after several players tested positive for the deadly coronavirus and will now resume in the Middle East. The remaining fixtures of the league will be played from 19 September to 15 October in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.