File picture: Laxman Sivaramakrishnan (TOI photo)

New Delhi: Former Indian cricketer and famous commentator Laxman Sivaramakrishnan has made another explosive revelation about his years in cricket broadcasting, alleging he was forced to return to commentary duties soon after his elder brother’s cremation.The former leg spinner, who recently retired from the BCCI commentary panel citing “color discrimination”, shared the emotional incident through a series of posts on social media on Thursday.“My elder brother passed away a few years ago. We completed the cremation in the evening, a few minutes after that, the BCCI broadcast director called me and said, ‘Now that the cremation is done, can you take a flight to Mohali the next morning to do commentary on the India vs Australia Test?’ I went,” Sivaramakrishnan wrote on X.The 60-year-old revealed that despite the personal grief, he prioritized his professional commitments.He said, “I gave up mourning and went away. My mother passed away when I was commentating in Pune. After going through so much, I was subjected to whatever I had to do.”

‘That’s why I retired’In another post, Sivaramakrishnan hinted that the same person 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.In March, just days before IPL 2026, Sivaramakrishnan had announced his retirement from BCCI commentary, alleging discrimination on the basis of skin color and claiming that he was sidelined in favor of newcomers.The former India spinner, who represented the country in nine Tests and 16 ODIs, had earlier opened up in interviews about battling depression, anxiety and severe emotional trauma during his commentary career.

‘I thought I was going to die’In an intensely personal conversation with The Indian Express earlier this year, Sivaramakrishnan had talked about experiencing a mental breakdown during the IPL in the UAE during the COVID-19 period.“I became completely depressed and I didn’t want to look at myself in the mirror,” he said. “Every time I woke up, I felt like I was going to die.”He described terrifying hallucinations, sleepless nights and emotional isolation, and also alleged years of racism and appearance discrimination in the cricket world.Sivaramakrishnan further claimed that he was often denied high-profile on-air roles because he was considered “not presentable”.“I have never done a toss or a presentation,” he previously said, adding that producers reportedly told him they were instructed not to put him in those positions.The former spinner also recalled traumatic experiences from his early cricket days and said that such incidents caused severe damage to his self-esteem at a young age.