Harsha Bhogle Hits Back At His Trolls, Issues Clarification For Missing The Kolkata Knight Riders vs Gujarat Titans Game

IPL 2025: Pitches in the ongoing eighteenth edition of the Indian Premier League have been under the scanner for quite some time now. The previous edition of the Indian Premier League saw 200 runs being scored for fun, but this time around, the flow of runs has been controlled, and the quality of the pitches has been discussed a lot.

The pitch controversy started after the chief curator of the Eden Gardens revealed that Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Ajinkya Rahane had made an indirect request to him.

Harsha Bhogle Issues Clarification For Missing KKR vs GT Game

The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) had earlier requested the BCCI to remove Harsha Bhogle and Simon Doull from the commentary panel of Kolkata Knight Riders' home games. The CAB was reportedly furious with Bhogle and Doull publicly criticizing the Eden Gardens curator. Doull also went to the extent of saying that KKR should explore other options and relocate if they want to have spin-friendly conditions.

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Interestingly, Harsha Bhogle wasn't spotted in the commentary box during the Kolkata Knight Riders vs Gujarat Titans game, and it sparked rumors of speculation. Now, the commentator has come out and cleared the air around him through a social media post.

"There are some inappropriate conclusions being drawn about why I wasn't at yesterday's game in Kolkata. Quite simply, it wasn't on the list of matches I was down to do! Asking me would have resolved the issue. 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 second," wrote Bhogle on his X (formerly known as Twitter) account.

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Eden Gardens' Chief Pitch Curator Sparks Controversy

According to the Eden Gardens' chief curator, Rahane had asked him to prepare a turf that would be helpful for the spinners. He further went on to say that he turned down the KKR skipper's request. As a result, the chief curator had to face a lot of criticism for denying home advantage to the team.

Lucknow Super Giants bowler Shardul Thakur had also requested the curators to provide a proper balance between the bat and the ball.