Harbhajan Singh will not be out of action during the upcoming Indian Premier League.
The veteran off-spinner has opted out of the Chennai Super Kings squad for the upcoming 13th edition of the IPL citing personal reasons. However, the Turbanator SportzFront can confirm is close to signing a deal for his LIVE presence during the games. Yes. Literally.
IPL host broadcaster Star Sports production team is engaged in talks to rope in Harbhajan in the IPL commentary panel.
Harbhajan, if all goes on expected lines, will be a member of Star Sports’ Hindi commentary panel for the 60-match, 53-day league. He will be operating from the Star Sports Mumbai studios for the initial phase of the league.
Harbhajan himself has confirmed that he was gearing up for something special this IPL season. “Cricket aaj kal kaafi news mein hai, aur abhi abhi mujhe aisa kuch pata chala hai that will change the way you look at cricket forever! #CricketKaKhulasa,” he has stated on his Twitter handle @Harbhajan_Singh.
Cricket aaj kal kaafi news mein hai, aur abhi abhi mujhe aisa kuch pata chala hai that will change the way you look at cricket forever! #CricketKaKhulasa
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) September 12, 2020
It is not yet confirmed whether he will join the commentators’ pool that will be travelling to the UAE for the later stages of the league. He had earlier declined to travel to the Emirates with the Chennai Super Kings contingent.
Star Sports is creating a pool of over 90 cricket experts and commentators for the LIVE broadcast of the IPL 2020.
Harbhajan has already had successful stints as a commentator. Having first appeared in the role during India’s tour of England in 2018, he was also among the prominent faces during the LIVE broadcast of the ICC World Cup 2019.
The IPL matches from the UAE will be broadcast across all the premier channels of Star Sports network, besides the key GEC and movie channels, in English, Hindi and regional Indian languages – Bangla, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam.
Meanwhile, Harbhajan is also being signed by a leading news channel for the special IPL analysis shows on the television and digital platforms.