Charu Sharma

Veteran sports commentator, compère and a quizmaster, Charu Sharma is also the director of the famous Pro Kabbadi League.

Initially Charu’s forte was diving and he became a national junior champion at the age of 11. In 1978, he qualified for the Commonwealth Games but had to give up leading to some financial barriers and finally quit at the age of 19.

Charu was also a first-division cricketer in Kolkata.

Charu pursued his scholarship program from Davidson College, North Carolina and on returning he started working with a tea company in Delhi. He relocated to Hyderabad after a couple of years and finally found his calling for commentaries after his participation in the 1982 Asian Games.

He hosted many sports events and in the year 1993, he joined ESPN as a lead anchor and was associated till 2001.

Charu Sharma is well-known for his television appearances (particularly on cricket) alongside Mandira Bedi, as well as his work as a quizmaster in television shows and other events. He hosts award shows, corporate events, and contributes to teamwork and leadership seminars on a regular basis.

He was the CEO of the Royal Challengers Bangalore cricket team for the inaugural season of Indian Premier League in 2008.

Charu Sharma co-founded The Pro Kabaddi League in 2014 with Anand Mahindra through their company Marshal Sports, of which he is also a director.

In 2018, he was invited to Bahrain to promote cricket and he also hosted the finals of the Coca Cola Bahrain Premier League Quiz.

Charu temporarily replaced Hugh Edmeades as an auctioneer at the 2022 Indian Premier League auction.

He has around 20 years of expertise in sportscasting with Indian television channels like Sony, MAX, ESPN, Star Sports and Doordarshan.