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 Harsha
Bhogle gets our vote for his diligent work on the World
Cup.When ESPN Star Sports announced its panel for the
World Cup, ex-Irish international Gerry Armstrong and
ex-England and Liverpool player Steve McMahon were fine
with most people. But what was Harsha Bhogle doing there?
Shouldn't he be sticking to his core competency?. A
month into the World Cup and we think he's done his
job - the way he went about it looked text-bookish,
but at the end of the day, he didn't make you switch
channels. He also kept the conversation alive and, more
often than not, asked his two colleagues the right questions.
We also asked people who are associated with the game
for a living - former players, coaches, sports journalists
and sports persons. Here's what they have to say about
Harsha's World Cup performance.
SS
Narayan, former India goalkeeper and double Olympian
(1956 and 1960)
Maybe, it was a bit difficult at first to get used to
seeing him there, but I thought he was quite nice. He
did his homework well, didn't commit any major mistakes
and appeared fluent and articulate.
Mario
Rodrigues, The Statesman
He's done a competent job. His is a friendly, familiar
face and it worked well with a lot of people and I don't
think there are too many people as articulate as he
is. Plus ESPN would have had to do a lot of groundwork,
if they had plans to do a Sony with someone like Mandira
Bedi. But at the same time, maybe he could have avoided
some of his cricketing similies, they did get a bit
irritating.
Derek
Pereira, former India player, and coach, Mahindra United
Not bad at all, he surprised me. He's picked up the
game fast and has obviously read up a lot. Even a lot
of my purist friends didn't find him all that bad.
Shivani
Naik, The Indian Express
Good job. Though all the analysing was done by Armstrong
and McMahon, his was a familiar face and that helped
a lot of people relate to football better. Even his
use of cricketing terminology helped in this regard.
Bimal
Ghosh, football coach, Air India
I would give him 3 out of 10, he didn't know much about
the game and hence, there was no analysis. He also brought
too much of cricket into his talk and that's why a lot
of people I know pressed the 'mute' button every time
he came on.
Ayaz
Memon, Sports Editor, Daily News & Analysis
It's a great attempt. Not too many people are courageous
enough to try their hand at something other than their
area of expertise. He's done his homework diligently
and has come up trumps for ESPN.
Michael
Ferreira, former world billiards champion
He's done a great job. He might not be a football expert,
but then he's got the experts on the panel with him.
And his facts are always correct.
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