"Didn't like woman wearing saree and talking cricket": Mandira Bedi on being cricket presenter

Apart from being a brilliant actor, Mandira Bedi also turned heads when she presented cricket. And while it might have looked all fun and glory to the audience, for Bedi, it was quite intimidating. Mandira has opened up about facing sexism and being looked down upon during her stint. Mandira worked as a presenter for Champions Trophy too.

Mandira opens up about the experience

Talking about her experience and how the channel backed her, Bedi said, "I got stared down by a lot of the cricketers like, 'what's she even asking, why is she even asking that.' They answered whatever they wanted to answer nothing connected to my question and that can be very very intimidating but I kind of was assured by the channel, that backed me and chose me from 150-200 women."

"Nobody accepted me to begin with, certainly not the people sitting on the panel. I'm friends with all the ex-cricketers now who I worked with back then as well but they didn't like that either. They didn't like that there was a woman wearing a saree, dressed up, talking cricket. Nobody fed me any lines, nobody fed me any questions. I was there to represent the layperson who doesn't know every technicality of cricket, who does not know every nuance of cricket," Mandira told Pinkvilla.

Mandira challenged patriarchy

Mandira Bedi lost her husband and director Raj Kaushal to a massive cardiac arrest last year. She broke and challenged patriarchy by not only performing the last rites of her husband herself but standing tall and strong for her family during such tough times.