Does anybody else find Harsha Bhogle annoying?

[harishankar]

I'm sick of his commentary and presentation style. He thinks he's an expert on English metaphors and compares the game to some of the silliest things trying to be too clever.

Like this one: "like a great writer searching for words" or something similar when he was trying to describe the reverse swing of Wasim Akram. Does anybody else here notice his stupid metaphors and feel annoyed at his smug commentary style?

Don't get me wrong. He's got an excellent command of the language and has a fair knowledge of the game too, but his commentary does get on my nerves...

 

[Pak_cricketer]

Is that the guy in the India/South Africa series? I find those guys pretty boring.

 

[harishankar]

Yeah, the commentary team isn't great, but Alan Wilkins is way more entertaining and by far the best commentator on the ESPN/Star roster.

Ravi Shastri used to be good and in the right company he still is. There's just too little variety in the commentary. I wish Robin Jackman and Barry Richards were commentating for ESPN/Star rather than Pat Symcox and Alan Donald. Both Simmo and Donald are adequate but I really like Robin Jackman and Barry Richards for their deeper insights.

As for Wasim Akram, he's OK, but again, there's too little variety in ESPN Star. Ten Sports have an upper hand now because they've got Geoff Boycott now.

I guess the depth of cricket analysis is really lacking because the commentary team is way too biased towards India.

 

[sohum]

I haven't heard Harsha in a while but when I did watch cricket in India, he was quite easily one of my favorite commentators. He hasn't been commentating for a while though, having been resigned to a studio position, from what I have been seeing. ESPN-Star had quite a team back then, with Geoff Boycott, Ravi Shastri, Alan Wilkins, Dean Jones, Wasim Akram, Sunil Gavaskar and of course the ever-controversial Navjot Singh Sidhu.

I haven't heard them in a while, but the last I saw of Ten Sports (which was back when India toured the West Indies), I would have to prefer whatever ESPN Star dished up.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

He is annoying once in a while, but not all that bad.
Sohum, the current team is:
Wasim
Ravi Sahastri
Gavaskar
Bhogle
Wilkinson
Allan Donald
Pat Symcox
Gautam Bhimani
And this comedian guy who comes in the team break.

 

[gaurav_indian]

I think ESPN-Star has got the best commentry team.They have got Wasim Akram,Sunil Gavaskar,Ravi Shastri,Harsha Bhogle is good,Zaheer Abbas was also there during the one dayers for the hindi commentary.And they did the good job by throwing out Navjot Singh Sidhu out of the commentary team.

 

[harishankar]

Best team? Maybe you and I have different tastes. Did you actually follow the India tour of SA? Going by ESPN-Star you would imagine there was only one team playing - India... the coverage to the SA team was minimal.

I don't like a completely pro-Indian commentary team.

 

[cricket_lover]

Harsha Bhogle is quite good, good use of words and quite energetic. Probably the best among current Indian commentators.

 

[harishankar]

Harsha Bhogle is quite good, good use of words and quite energetic. Probably the best among current Indian commentators.

Why does he keep using cliched expressions? That's what annoys me so much. "I just get the feeling..." Harsha does tend to get on the nerves.

 

[gaurav_indian]

Best team? Maybe you and I have different tastes. Did you actually follow the India tour of SA? Going by ESPN-Star you would imagine there was only one team playing - India... the coverage to the SA team was minimal.

I don't like a completely pro-Indian commentary team.

Yes I am following cricket not only for the SA tour but for the last 10 years or so.And ESPN-Star has the best commentary team.And if you are thinking that they are only covering India then you are wrong,South African commentators are also there.One more thing is ESPN-Star cricket's home is India so I don't see any harm in that.Also they have got the television rights for the ICC.

 

[Cricket_god]

Yes I am following cricket not only for the SA tour but for the last 10 years or so.And ESPN-Star has the best commentary team.And if you are thinking that they are only covering India then you are wrong,South African commentators are also there.One more thing is ESPN-Star cricket's home is India so I don't see any harm in that.Also they have got the television rights for the ICC.

I simly do not agree with onlu sunil gavaskar and ravi shastri making some sense and wasim akram is there as bowling coach to indian team i think as his commentary is as bad as it gets he just heaps praises on simple things and alan is a great host .but harsha tries to be too smart he throws some good questions but ends up being too boring and negative especially his comment comparing the adelaide test to this test as he forgets south africa does not have a certain Shane warne.i thought when boycott was there
the team was best but now ten sports team is way better.

I hate espn because they still do not show speed consistently its a disgrace their test coverage.

 

[BigCrickNan]

Sky Sports has the best commentary team, who else has Bumble and Nasser :P?

 

[gamerkid22]

And this comedian guy who comes in the team break.

Vikram Sathe and he only comes in Tea Break and is funny.

The ESPN commentry team is not bat at all just u get bored as its slow . But the best commentry team is of Sky Sports .

 

[harishankar]

Sky Sports has some good commentators.

The thing about ESPN Star is that it's so heavily biased to covering only India that it gets so one-dimensional. Also the commentators aren't rotated enough and we hear the same voices every half hour or so. Having 3 instead of 2 at a time is great, provided you have variety. Unfortunately they do not have this.

I enjoy stalwarts like Barry Richards and Robin Jackman and I miss them... why can't we have a more balanced coverage? Going by ESPN Star, one would think South Africa aren't even a team that deserves a mention!

South African commentators are also there.

But they offer only an Indian perspective and never really try to analyze the game from a South African perspective. Alan Donald is OK, but Pat Symcox has been blatantly pro-India throughout the coverage.

 

[sohum]

I think it is probably over compensation on the part of the South African commentators. I've noticed this with a few English commentators too, such as David Lloyd, who turn completely against their country and laud the opposition team.

Who is on the Sky team, by the way?