Harsha Online!!

If some one were to wake me up at 2 am in the mid night and ask me to name one commentator, with out slightest of hesitation, Harsha would be the first name that will come out of my mouth. Some of the other names that would come while one talks about commentators (but not at mid night) would be Sunny Gavaskar, Shaz- Ravi Shastri, Wilko- Allan Wilkins, Waaz-Wasim Akram and Ian Chappel, Tony Greig and mums favorite boy Geoff Boycott.
Harsha A. Bhogle was born in Hyderabad, 19th July 1961in Maharashtrian Konkanastha Brahmin family. Advertising was his first love. He graduated from IIM-Ahmedabad in 1985. His first commentary stint was a Ranji Trophy Match played between Hyderabad and Kerala, when he was just 19!!
Any guesses on his international debut as a commentator? It was way back in 1992, he was invited by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation during India’s Australian Tour. Incidentally it was our Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar's first tour of Australia. Since 1998, he has been presenting live cricket from all around the world for ESPN-Star Sports. He has covered more than 50 test matches and almost 300 ODIs.


















He has been hosting shows like Harsha Online and Harsha Unplugged.
In any wild stretch of imagination one can’t imagine that he is Indian Cricket's first non player celebrity. One peculiar style I have noticed about him and that’s what makes me wonder whether he is a left hander whenever he speaks as his left hands does lot of movements and his fingers keep on moving as if he were writing in air. His face is all smiles and always wears a stretched smile on his face all the while and he doe not have any qualms about scarcity of hair on his head.


Anil Kumble would be a proud person to know the fact that he is Harsha’s all time favorite player. Anil is a big heart, very tough and extremely understated soft spoken person. He likes the players who let their performance speak for themselves which includes Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. He likes Ganguly for his aggression. As a child his cricketing idols were Sunil Gavaskar and BS Chandrasekhar and he used to copy their style more often than not. His personal favorite test match is the one India beat England at Leeds in 2002.According to him, India took bold decisions, batted brilliantly in bowler friendly conditions and the spinners won the game on the last day.
One thing I remember is that in one of the matches, there was some discussion going on about the coaches using too much of technology, they use laptops etc. So the fellow commentator asked him if he uses a laptop, to which he quietly replied that
"I am still working on my desktop to earn a laptop"
Harsha clearly sets an example of how a person can be extremely witty yet have his feet on the ground!!

And The Idea Is Ours!!

Wondering which idea I am talking about? Nopes I am not talking about Idea Cellular.
I am talking about the Idea Cup which we won in Sri Lanka. Although the result of the last match was some thing the Indians would like to forget, we won the cup with 3-2.
One could very well say that we dearly missed our captain Dhoni in test wickets. He is the best bet behind the wickets in India and every one knows his exploits with the bat. He can change the course the match single handedly as his come back in the ODI exactly showcased that.Raina again displayed super show as he latched on his aggressive mode.
The victorious captain of our under 19 team- Virat Kohli got a chance to bag the Indian cap in this series as he made his ODI debut in the first match. He even scored a half century. Chances like these should not be missed is what he should have known exactly by now.
















Moving on to the bowling department, my eyes started glittering as soon as I saw his favorite & special delivery that especially jabs back into the left hander from out side off stump .Yes I am very much talking about ‘ZAK’. He showed signs of come back and he has proved his potentials as a senior pro while it comes to bowling. He was very well supported by Pravin Kumar and Munaf Patel. Patel for one looks like he has lost the sting as his very look gives a feeling that he is not up to mark. But with his immaculate line and length, he again proved that he has it in him and can be banked up on. Pravin kumar is that kind of bowler who does not have much of the pace, but he bowls in the right area and swings it well which makes him a good bowler. As they say Singh is King, our Sardar from Jullandar Bhajji is really a king as he was in good knick and turned the ball miles fetching some wickets against his name. He has become a peace maker now a days as who better than him would know about controversies that has revolved around him courtesy hot temper. One could see him in the fourth match while Dhoni was giving a peace of his mind to Yuvi, immediately Bhajji stepped in and was trying to make the situation lighter.

We missed the fifth bowler badly which means the part timers had to swing their arms.
When I say part timer, Yuvi is the one who was bowling, who is slightly better than the part timers as even he picked some wickets in the series.

Point to note is that our tagged All Rounder Irfan Pathan has forgotten to fire with the ball which he is supposed to do. He is not able to deliver with the ball and hence he is struggling to find the place in the eleven, which some years ago were a cemented place for him as he was considered as a lethal bowler.

Considering the fact that the match were played in Sri Lanka in this season, its always a point to wonder as it rains in that part of the world yet they scheduled the series at such time. This affects the course of the match. The fourth match was affected and was played on the reserve day which India won comfortably. Even the last match was delayed and interrupted. This ends up into the Rain Marred Matches

All said and done, the Idea Cup is already ours!!

So Close, Yet So Far!!

Being so close to the feat yet so far, the feeling is not too easy to digest. Yet one has to be satisfied with the fact that we got bronze medals atleast.

Winning medals in Olympics in close to two weeks has been the biggest achievement of Indians in the Beijing Olympics.

It was Wrestler Sushil Kumar and then Boxing King Vijendra to follow the footsteps of Abhinav.The results would have been merrier had both won the Gold Medals. Nevertheless even winning the Bronze medal is worth it.

What these youngsters have done is that they have brought senses of pride and belief that even Indians can now think of winning medals and I am sure as the after effects of Olympics, expectations are only going to risen and winning is going to be the habit.

Not winning a medal in Olympics was a passé, come next Olympics, I am sure we are going to win more of the medals in other sports as well. What we as a nation is required to do is encourage the talent from all discipline of sports and then train them hard so that winning should be our natural habit.

Golden Shooting Star!!

It took some 108 years for India to get the first ever gold medal at Olympics for an individual performance. This was India's first individual gold medal at the Olympics and the first gold in 28 years, since the Men's Field Hockey team won the gold at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.What better news could it be for the Indians than the news of Gold Medal at Olympics. The impact was such that even people who are unaware that Olympics are going on have started talking about it.
It was my usual time of traveling in the train while going towards office. Suddenly one guy started jumping all off a sudden in the compartment breaking the news that India has won a Gold medal. The news was courtesy a call from his residence.


Yes by then Abhinav Bindra had done India a great deal of pride. The happiness was very evident in everyone eyes. Being a cricket fan I was clean bowled even as I heard the news and transferred the joy amongst others as soon as I entered the office. The moment was made lighter by a colleague of mine by cracking a joke that a National Holiday should be declared!!

The entire nation is proud of this Sharp shooter. What’s going in the minds of his parents is just beyond imagination. What he has done is now people will focus on sports other than cricket, and he has proved that cricket is not the only sport in India.
People like him will now help in making sports other than cricket popular in India.

If he goes at the same consistent level, he does not have to worry that we will not be regarded as a sporting nation because of cricket.

And while it comes to endorsements, if he is out spoken, he would give a competition to the cricketers and if he remains to be a shy person, then chance of endorsement following him will fade as time passes.

All He Needs Is Lactose Power!!

What bigger pride than donning India’s Cap?
Captaining the side is even a bigger honor. What more is in the store? His satiety level is more. Coming from a small home town and reaching this height is really a commendable thing. The best thing that would have happened to the deserving sports person is what has happened. Yes he has been conferred India’s one of the biggest award in sports category. The Khel Ratna Award.

Born on July 7th 1981, in a Small town Ranchi seldom would have thought that he will make a big name for himself. It was against Bangladesh on 23 December 2004 that Mahendra Singh Dhoni made his debut in the ODI. It would have been the most forgetful match as he didn’t trouble the scorers as he got run out on a duck. Since then with his hard hitting prowess, he has become the back bone of Indian cricket team. One can really say that he is continuing the good work carried out by dada to build up a strong team. He is a man who would speak straight from his heart. One can clearly remember the IPL finals where Chennai Super Kings lost, he did not pin point anyone and he said we lost as a team.

Wining T20 world cup for India was the major event. He is a very cool and calm customer. Making him the captain of the side was the wise decision as he is the most deserving person. He is never short of words and also has the ability to handle the so called media very cleverly.

Be it his hair style or his batting style Mahi has always earned accolades. Even Pakistan’s President Gen. Musharraf also praised him for his hairstyle

Back in school, he was a goal keeper of his football team. The transformation from a goal keeper to wicket keeper has not been as difficult as has steel grit. Right through out his career he has played some wonderful cricket and he is the best bet behind the wickets.

Like Adam Gilchrist,Mahi has shown a new dimension to Indian cricket.
And can you imagine what he needs after all to be strong and powerful?

Yes all he needs is the Lactose Power!!!