BCCI terminates Harsha Bhogle's IPL contract

Harsha Bhogle has been associated with the IPL since its inception, and the BCCI's decision comes as a huge surprise ahead of the new season – especially when Bhogle even hosted the auction for the ninth season.

Bhogle took to social media to express his disappointment at missing out on what he labelled as his 'favourite tournament'. However, when one of his followers on twitter quizzed him about the reason behind this decision, Bhogle said, “I don't know. That is the truth”.

The decision seems like an afterthought as Bhogle was initially listed as a part of the television crew and he had even received his roster for the tournament.

“When deciding the commentators, we take feedback from everyone. We monitor social media reactions on commentators, and also take inputs from players,” an unnamed senior BCCI official was quoted as saying by the Sunday Express.

There have been a lot of speculations about the reason behind the BCCI's decision – one being Amitabh Bachchan's recent criticism of Indian commentators, which was evidently directed at Bhogle, while the other speculation points towards a heated argument he had with a Nagpur official during the World T20.

At the VCA Stadium, the Hindi and the English commentary box was separated by the VIP box. With the doors of the VIP box closed, bilingual commentators had to traverse a lot of stairs in order to go from one box to the other. Bhogle, reportedly, wanted the VIP boxes' door to be opened, which led to an altercation with an official.

A lot of fans have taken to twitter to express their support for Bhogle.