Mandira Bedi says she was ignored by her senior panelists while hosting the Cricket World Cup in 2003: 'I used to cry every day'

Mandira Bedi was selected to host the Cricket World Cup in 2003. In a recent interview, she recalled the experience of being in the spotlight, dealing with sexism from cricket experts, and more. Mandira shared that she cried every day for a week, but then things started to change for her.

While talking to Humans of Bombay, Mandira mentioned that it was never an easy path as they had never had a woman sitting on the panel. The legends on the panel weren’t particularly excited about having a woman among them. She would ask questions, some of which were silly, irrelevant, or stupid, but her brief was to ask anything that came to her mind.


Mandira added that the cricket experts would just stare at her if she came up with any doubts. Then they would look back at the camera and start speaking about whatever they wanted to, never acknowledging what she asked. She used to put her head down and cry after every show.

According to her, nobody cared. They ignored her, and she was stuttering, stumbling, and nervous for the first few weeks. She had a co-host, and his questions were acknowledged. But after the first week, the channel called her in for an ‘intervention’. She was worried about getting fired, but they were kind. They asked her to bring some fun into that boring panel and changed her outlook. She became more assertive with her questions, and things became more fun and better for her.

Once, Tiger Pataudi visited their studio and recognized Mandira Bedi. Mandira hosted the 2007 Cricket World Cup and the Champions Trophy in 2004 and 2006, as well as IPL Season 2.

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