Mandira’s IPL innings ends, channel looks for new faces

You will miss her on the small screen this time. There will be no Mandira Bedi offering her comments when the third edition of the IPL T-20 cricket tournament begins this Friday, reports Atreyo Mukhopadhyay.

You will miss her on the small screen this time.

HT Image

There will be no Mandira Bedi offering her comments when the third edition of the Indian Premier League T-20 cricket tournament begins this Friday.

Sneha Rajani, executive vice-president of SET Max, which will air the matches, confirmed it, as did Bedi herself.

“We’re trying something different this time. That’s why she won’t be around,” Rajani told Hindustan Times.

“I’m not going to host the IPL for Max. At this moment I’m not at the liberty to say anything more,” said Bedi.

But why? Because the producers believe Bedi has lost her screen appeal and are looking for younger people.

“There is not much more she can bring to the table as an anchor,” said an insider, on condition of anonymity. “Her value is finished.”

“She may have been a hit with viewers, but not with us,” the insider added. “She’s not a fresh face any more, and she wasn’t very good last year.”

This time Max has roped in actor-models Samir Kochar, Gaurav Kapur, Ayushman Khurana and Angad Bedi (son of spinner Bishen Singh Bedi) for pre and post match discussions.