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Gautam Bhimani

Full Biography

Gautam has had sport in his consciousness since the age of 6. From live Test Match commentary from a helicopter over a ground in the Caribbean or watching cricket sitting in a Jacuzzi in Cape Town, to facing Muralitharan's doosra or Wasim Akram's rib crushers in the nets, he has revolutionized the art of cricket coverage with his unique brand of colorful snippets in and around international matches involving India, traveling to every exotic corner of the cricketing world. For daring to be different, he was awarded the prestigious "Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism" by HE the President of India APJ Abdul Kalam in 2007, and was runner up at the all India SJFI Awards in Mumbai in 2006.

GAUTAM THE STUDENT:

Gautam went to St Xavier's school in Kolkata, at the same time as former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly. He went on to get a Bachelor's in Mass Communication from Southeast Missouri State University in the US. He spent six years as a copywriter at J Walter Thompson and was a radio Jockey for 3 years with Mark Tully's Radio Network FM.

GAUTAM - THE STUDENT OF SPORT:

Apart from being a sports fanatic, Gautam is a keen quizzer, and it was a near perfect performance at one of the nation's most prestigious quiz contests that actually landed him his "dream job"! He took part in the Economic Times Brand Equity Quiz, where he stood third all India and won a trip to Singapore where he just happened to visit the studios of ESPN Star Sports purely as a fan! Destiny then took over.

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Question & Answer with Gautam Bhimani

Q: How did you come to be in your current position in your broadcasting career?

GB: When I started out at ESPN Star, I was mainly into research for a show called Harsha Online. I happened to be sent to Zimbabwe as a "news" reporter and early on that tour I sat on the boundary line at the Harare Sports Club and watched fans soak in the game from a boundary line bar. I did a story on that, giant beer glass in hand, and that sparked off a trend.

Q: Is reporting on sport the next best thing to playing it? And what was the pinnacle you reached in your favourite sport? GB: Reporting on sport is often better than actually playing sport. It lets you be up close and personal without getting down and dirty!

Q: What is your favourite sport outside of the one you are best known for? And how do you relax when you are not working? GB: Other than cricket, my favourite sports are tennis football and formula 1. Playing tennis or sitting on a beach staring at the waves are my favourite forms of relaxation!

Q: Who was the biggest influence on your life, either within your career or outside? GB: At home my parents have been my complete influence. Professionally, Harsha Bhogle has always been an idol, as someone who has not played the sport at the highest level but has got the world to sit up and notice that you don't need to be a sportsperson to be a great broadcast person.

Q: Who is the most memorable individual you have met during your playing or working life? GB: In cricket, Sir Garfield Sobers. Otherwise, bumping into Jude Law at Lord's and discovering a similar passion for the game ranks up there with interviewing Bollywood Star Shah Rukh Khan at a movie premiere in London.

Q: Tell us the funniest story you have heard regarding your chosen, or any, sport. GB: One time at the SCG when Ravi Shastri was being sledged big time by Mike Whitney, he hurled the ball at him as 12^th man. Shastri yelled back, "hey Mike, if you could only bowl as well as you can throw, you would never be 12^th man again!"

Q: Do you/did you have a nickname? GB: Have had a million. "GB" the most common.

Q: Tell us something we may not know about you.. GB: If I don't have a mike in my hand, I am the world's shyest individual!

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