Actress Mandira Bedi started her career with television shows and films. During a chance meeting with Sony TV officials, where she professed her love for cricket, she became the anchor of the 2003 Cricket World Cup. However, the experience was not entirely pleasant. In a recent interview, Bedi revealed how she got the anchor’s role and why Sony TV prevented her from reading comments about herself online.

In 2002 when India reached the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy, Bedi booked a ticket to Sri Lanka to watch the match. During the match, people from Sony TV saw him and wondered why he bought the ticket and why he was calling celebrities to watch the cricket match.

“At that time, they were inviting celebrities to watch cricket, and I went there, but I bought my own ticket. They remembered me as a person who really likes cricket,” Bedi told IANS recently. Curly Tales.

She further added, “So, when they needed a female anchor for the 2003 World Cup, they called me out of the blue. As soon as I reached there, 10 people came into the room and started asking me questions related to cricket, I was thinking, ‘What is happening?’ They asked me, ‘Would you be interested in hosting the Cricket World Cup?’ I said, ‘Would I be interested? Yes!’ But it wasn’t that easy. There were three auditions and over a thousand women auditioned for the job.”

Bedi bagged the role. However, the journey to becoming a TV host was not easy for the actor. “At that time, we didn’t have social media where you could see people’s comments. We had the internet, but not like now. Sony kept me away from all that. They said, ‘You are not allowed to know what people are saying’. They blocked all that for me.”

Nevertheless, this experience taught Mandira Bedi a valuable lesson. “What I have learnt from my time in cricket is that there will be people in life who will like you and then there will be people in life who will not like you. So be grateful to those who like you and don’t try to please those who don’t like you.”

Earlier, Mandira had also spoken about being ignored by the cricketers on the show and facing gender discrimination as they ignored all her questions.

During a Chat Humans Of BombayThe DDLJ actor shared, “It wasn’t easy because they had never had a woman sit on the panel before. So, the stalwarts sitting on the left and the right, were not particularly excited about having a woman on the panel.”

Mandira also recalled crying during the first week of the show. “I would put my head down and cry and the people sitting on my left and right would say, ‘I’ll go and get coffee now. Will you have coffee?’ and just walk away. I was miserable and nobody said anything to me for the first week. I was stuttering, stuttering and nervous and I was not getting any support from anywhere. I had a co-host. His questions were answered,” she recalled.

Eventually, the show’s producers intervened and encouraged her to be persistent with her questions and make the “boring” cricket panel discussions more interesting. She followed their advice, and the show became a more entertaining experience for Mandira Bedi.