Harsha Bhogle talking about Virat Kohli during an event. Photo: Screengrab
Harsha Bhogle slams ‘selectively edited reporting’ over his Kohli-RCB video
“This is an example of what I was talking about with social media. The video is cropped just before the point where I say that Virat is capable of playing across situations...," he said.
Noted cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle on Monday (February 19) hit out at a news agency for sharing an edited video clip of his comments on India batter Virat Kohli.
Terming it “selectively edited reporting”, Bhogle asked the news agency to put out the full video. He criticised the “clickbait journalism” of the organisation and shared the full 48-second video on his X (Twitter) handle.
At an event, Bhogle was asked by a person in the audience about very few cricketers being good at playing all three formats (Tests, One-dayers, Twenty20s) and he cited the examples of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. The person wanted to know Bhogle’s views on players could be dexterous in all three forms of the game.
“Virat Kohli is a great example. Virat Kohli is playing Test cricket for India. He is not supposed to get out,” Bhogle said.
“Now, he goes to play for RCB, for India; beyond a certain point, it might actually been the interest of the side for him to get out. How do you reconcile to the fact that I am one of the greatest that’s played the game but actually at this stage, it’s in the team’s interest that I get out because the person who is coming in will probably hit 20 off six balls?” he added.
“Virat Kohli is an extreme example. It may…” Bhogle says as the video is cut abruptly.
Responding to this video clip posted on X, Bhogle wrote, “This is an example of what I was talking about with social media. The video is cropped just before the point where I say that Virat is capable of playing across situations but that I was only highlighting how even the greatest players have to keep adjusting demands and priorities. Come on @PTI_News I am sure you can do better. With selectively edited reporting, nobody will be able to articulate thoughts again. Can you put out the whole clip please?”
Later, sharing the video of his full comments, Bhogle wrote, “Now this is how a malicious edit can be done. The clip that @PTI_News posted was cut at 0:41 on this edit. The next 6 seconds were kept out to change the meaning. This is the problem with clickbait journalism. The context here is that this is part of a larger discussion in an HR forum (that conversation is much longer) about how T20 is measured very differently and therefore how different metrics are needed to measure talent in different situations.”
