Mumbai: Board of Control for Cricket in India may drop cricketing legend Sunil Gavaskar from its list of commentators thus ending a long professional association with the batting maestro.
According to a Times of India report, Gavaskar's role as a commentator could come to an end once his contract comes up for renewal.
"The board's rant is that the fee paid to Gavaskar "is astronomical" vis-a-vis the fee for which some others are ready to commentate for the BCCI panel,"the daily quoted its sources as saying.
While other commentators are paid an amount between Rs 35,000 to Rs 1 lakh per day for doing commentary, Gavaskar was reportedly paid eight times that amount for a day's commentary, the report says.
The Indian board is also of the view that Gavaskar hasn't toed the board's views in his role as commentator.
Manjrekar was paid Rs 36.49 lakh for the entire India-South Africa series while Anil Kumble was paid Rs 39.1 lakh for the same. Gavaskar, during this time, raked in a salary of close to Rs 90 lakh," the daily said quoting its sources.
"Sunny gets Rs 10 lakh per match day while Sanjay gets around Rs 3 to 4 lakh." it adds.
However, it is not clear if Gavaskar's colleague Ravi Shastri will be hired by the BCCI full-time going forward or handled with the same gloves as his senior.
Gavaskar's junior Sanjay Manjrekar is expected to be promoted along with noted commentator Harsha Bhogle.