Commentators earn up to 10 lakh per day: Aakash Chopra

Of course, the game of cricket needs 13 players on the field at any point in time; 11 representing the fielding team and two batters out in the middle. There is also a need for the game to be monitored at all times, which is precisely what the on-field umpires in the middle as well as the third umpire and fourth umpire (in most high-level matches) do. However, for the netizens who rarely have the time and resources to witness a live match in the stadium, all they are limited to is being glued in our television sets on which the commentators are the prime group of people making the action in the middle even more engaging by analysing the game, to connect the fans to the match in as authentic a way as possible.

Former India cricketer, Aakash Chopra, was recently invited to Raj Shamani's Figuring Out podcast. Chopra had a conversation related to quite a diverse range of topics related to cricket. The initial few topics were regarding how Chopra got into the sport, his injury due to which he was affected both physically and mentally, the future of cricket, his favourite emerging players at the moment, the gap in pay between the likes of premium fast bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Mitchell Starc, and the one thing he would change about Indian cricket.

However, what was one of the most intriguing topics he discussed on the show was the prospects from a revenue point of view for commentators. On being questioned on the same, the Agra-born cleared Shamani's doubts regarding the commentators being paid on a per-match basis or on a different basis, stating that the commentators are generally paid on a per-match basis. The cricketer-turned-commentator also mentioned that the annual contracts which broadcasting agencies agree with the commentators are mostly allocated on a proportional basis.

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On being asked by a curious Shamani on the pay a junior commentator fresh off the blocks gets in comparison to a one having quite some experience under their belt, Chopra was quite candid in revealing that he had never asked any commentator their income, despite having being part of various commentary panels across a wide set of tournaments up until now. However, according to Chopra's estimate based on his own experience dealing with cricketing operations related to the same field, he revealed that while the junior commentators could earn anywhere between ₹35,000 to ₹40,000 a day, a senior professional could gain anywhere between a whopping range of ₹6-10 crore a year.