‘Now that the cremation is over...’: Former India cricketer’s shocking disclosure about cricket commentary
Former cricketer Laxman Sivaramakrishnan revealed he was compelled to commentate shortly after his brother's cremation, highlighting immense professional pressure. He also cited this and alleged colour discrimination as reasons for his recent retirement from the BCCI commentary panel, detailing past struggles with mental health and appearance-based bias.
NEW DELHI: Former India cricketer and renowned commentator Laxman Sivaramakrishnan has made another explosive revelation about his years in cricket broadcasting, alleging that he was forced to return to commentary duties immediately after his elder brother’s cremation. The former leg-spinner, who recently retired from the BCCI commentary panel citing “colour discrimination”, shared the emotional incident through a series of posts on social media on Thursday. “My elder brother passed away a few years earlier.
We finished cremation in the evening, minutes after that, The Director Broadcasting of BCCI called me and said, ‘now that the cremation is over, can you take a flight the next morning to commentate on Ind v Aus Test in Mohali? ’. I went,” Sivaramakrishnan wrote on X.
The 60-year-old revealed that despite personal grief, he prioritised his professional commitments. “I sacrificed the mourning and went. My mother passed away when I was doing commentary in Pune.
Having done all that, I was subject to whatever I went through,” he added. ‘That’s why I retired’ In another post, Sivaramakrishnan hinted that the same individual was one of the major reasons behind his decision to step away from commentary duties earlier this year, although he stopped short of naming the person publicly. Back in March, just days before IPL 2026, Sivaramakrishnan had announced his retirement from BCCI commentary, alleging discrimination based on skin colour and claiming he was sidelined in favour of newcomers.