Mandira's 'extraaa' insights on Karva Chauth

Fighting coffee withdrawals, I celebrated Karva Chauth on the sets of Extraaa Innings, writes Mandira Bedi.

Fighting coffee withdrawals — I never realised how much I need it — I celebrated Karva Chauth on the sets yesterday. Though this wasn’t my first time fasting on a working day, it was one of the toughest.

The occasion was complemented by Manish Malhotra’s gorgeous saree. After sporting Ritu Kumar in my first World Cup and Satya Paul in my second, Manish was at the top of my list when deciding on a designer. I wanted to make my comeback with a different look and this Champion’s Trophy will see dresses as part of my wardrobe.

The entire collection is built around an Indian motif, though I am not necessarily wearing a sari for every Indian match. The new look is rounded off with a different hairstyle. After years of constantly straightening my hair, it’s interesting how — when left natural — people keep complimenting me on my ‘nice perm’.

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Leaving the clothes aside, I had a chance to speak to John Wright about his book Indian Summers and the controversy, the out of context excerpts spurred in the media. Laughing, he could only comment that he probably got more media attention in the three days following the book release than in his five years of coaching.

This tournament has a lot of firsts for me, one of which is working with Rohit Roy. Though we have known each other for 11 years, this is the first time that we worked on such a large project. I must admit that not only is it fun having him on the set, but it’s reassuring that we are both finding our feet at the same time.

Finally, it is often said that good things come in threes and the triple ‘a’ in Extraaa will prove lucky for the show if numerologist Shweta Jumani’s predictions are anything to go by.