Harsha Bhogle Clears the Air on Eden Gardens Commentary Absence

Harsha Bhogle has put an end to the speculation around his absence from the commentary box during Kolkata Knight Riders’ home games at Eden Gardens in IPL 2025. There had been buzz that Bhogle, along with fellow commentator Simon Doull, was kept out of KKR’s home fixtures due to their critical comments about the pitch conditions in Kolkata. Reports even claimed that the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) had asked the BCCI to exclude the two from Eden Gardens broadcasts.

But Bhogle took to social media to set the record straight. “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!” he posted on X. He further clarified that the commentary schedule was set well in advance of the tournament. “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,” he explained. 

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…

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 22, 2025

The game in question was KKR’s match against Gujarat Titans, which they lost by 39 runs. That fixture reignited the conversation around Eden Gardens' pitch conditions, with KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane and head coach Chandrakant Pandit openly asking for spin-friendly surfaces to suit their bowling lineup of Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Moeen Ali. 

After CAB publicly supported pitch curator Sujan Mukherjee, Simon Doull had suggested that if the team wasn’t getting the kind of surface they wanted, maybe KKR should consider relocating their home base. Bhogle, too, had previously said that KKR should be given pitches that play to their strengths — a sentiment that may not have gone down well with some. All this has triggered a larger debate about how much influence teams and associations have over media and broadcast decisions. But as Bhogle pointed out, sometimes it’s just a matter of scheduling — and asking before assuming. 

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