Emails exchanged between Board of Control for Cricket in India officials have "shed light on how top cricket officials decided the remuneration of commentators" and even pulled up the chief of the board's production unit "when he objected to the contract details of an expert on the commentary panel," according to the Indian EXPRESS. Early last year, then BCCI President N. Srinivasan "intervened" to get player-turned-commentator L Sivaramakrishnan a favorable contract, "despite resistance from production chief James Rego," emails show. In an email to Indian Premier League CEO Sundar Raman, Rego wrote about the issue of the commentator's contract and how it made his "work difficult" if "all and sundry can directly have access to president or the secretary for production-related matters." Reacting to this, Srinivasan, in an email to the then secretary
Sanjay Patel, wrote that Rego "should find another job" and that he
doesn't know "why he (Rego) should continue in BCCI." According to the emails, Srinivasan "also supported a higher remuneration" for V.B. Chandrasekhar, the former selector-turned-commentator. Rego was concerned that if Chandrasekhar was paid Rs 35,000 a day, as Srinivasan desired, he would get Rs 5,000 more than Sivaramakrishnan, "who might demand higher pay then." Rego mailed his objection to Raman, who replied that he had "already spoken to Srinivasan," who had approved Chandrasekhar's remuneration (EXPRESS, 8/11).
