The commentator speaks about Indian culture, his hopes for the women’s game and why he feels blessed every morning
By Jonathan Drennan for the Guardian Sport Network
India has never been so quiet. Bustling streetside enterprises have closed; traffic has subdued; and the stumps have been pulled up on thousands of games of
Cricket. Harsha Bhogle has been commentating on the sport for nearly 40 years, but he cannot remember anything like this. “You can’t go out on to the streets anymore at all,” says Bhogle from his house in Mumbai. “When the National Party called a national ban, for instance, people used to still go out and play cricket. They can’t do that now. I don’t know what this lockdown will do to sport in this country, as sport is still seen as something that brings joy in India.
“I get so many people on my
Twitter feed telling me how much they are missing live cricket. Every day on television here they are showing re-runs of every single
Pakistan v
India World Cup game. It is being shown ball by ball, not just the highlights. They are showing India v Pakistan World Cup games because, on Indian sports news, India never loses.”