MUMBAI: Mandira Bedi, an actor, had already established herself on television and in films when she was hired to host the cricket World Cup in 2003. In a recent interview, Mandira discussed the experience of having millions of eyes on her and the misogyny she faced on a daily basis from cricket gurus who would simply dismiss her inquiries. Mandira stated that she cried every day for a week, but then she experienced a significant transformation.

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Opening up about her experience of hosting the Cricket World Cup, Mandira revealed, “It was not easy, because they had never had a woman sitting on the panel. So, the legends sitting on the left and the right, they weren’t particularly excited about having a woman on the panel. I would ask a question, some of my questions were really silly, irrelevant, stupid, but my brief was, ‘You ask the questions that come to your mind. Whatever you have in your mind, it’s not off the table, go ahead and ask’. So, if I have those questions in my mind, then somebody at home has got similar questions in their mind. I am not supposed to represent the purist, I am supposed to represent the common person.”

Mandira revealed that at the end of every show, “I would put my head down and I would cry, and people sitting on my left and right would say, ‘I will just go and get some coffee. Would you like some coffee?’ and just leave. I was just miserable and nobody said anything to me for the first one week. I was stuttering and stumbling and I was nervous, and I was not getting any support from anywhere. I had a co-host. His questions were acknowledged.”

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She said that, near the end, Tiger Pataudi came to their studio and asked, "You are the Mandira Bedi everyone is talking about?" In 2007, Mandira also hosted the Cricket World Cup. She also hosted the 2004 and 2006 Champions Trophy, as well as the second season of the Indian Premier League.

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Credit-IndianExpress