Harsha Bhogle is widely acknowledged to be not just the voice, but the face of Indian cricket. He started at a time when few Indian broadcasters were considered good enough to be on overseas networks. But he changed those perceptions, especially in Australia where in 1992 he was rated as the possessor of the “sexiest voice on radio” and in 1999 when a poll on an independent web site rated him the number one commentator for the season.

He brings a fresh perspective to cricket and is seen as a voice of reason which makes him acceptable across all cultures. His interesting background, a chemical engineer and an alumnus of IIM-Ahmedabad, India’s premier business school, has made him a role model for many.

He has been the face of ESPN from the day the channel was launched and that role grew to include Star Sports and Star Cricket which also broadcast signature programmes like “Harsha Unplugged” and “Harsha On-line”. When ESPN were looking for new anchors they called their reality show “Harsha ki khoj” to attract the best talent.

He has now commentated on over four hundred one-day internationals, over a hundred test matches and has been closely associated with T20 cricket, right from the first game that India played, through six IPL tournaments, five Champions Leagues and five T20 World Cups.

His columns are widely read and a selection of those has been put together in a book called “Out of the Box”. His video blogs “Step Out with Harsha” were quite popular and he now has over a million followers on twitter. No other sports media person is half as close.