Nashpreet Kaur to Sanjana Ganesan: The most famous Indian female anchors in IPL

Indian-Australian model Nashpreet Kaur joined IPL as an anchor in 2020 and went on to achieve instant fame. She has been regularly hosting the IPL and is one of the most popular anchors on the list. Born in Fiji, Kaur graduated in Biomedicine from the University of Melbourne. Kaur also hosted the 2023 Hockey Men’s World Cup.

Originally hailing from Uttarakhand, Tanya Purohit made her TV debut with Doordarshan and even had a small role in the film NH10 before she took on the world of cricket anchoring. In 2021, she shot to fame and is on Star Sports’ star-studded panel of IPL anchors. Today, she’s among the most famous Hindi language sports anchors, especially in IPL.

One of the first Indian female anchors in cricket, Mandira Bedi hosted the ICC Cricket World Cups in 2003 and 2007, Champions Trophies in 2004 and 2006, and later, the first two seasons of Indian Premier League (IPL) on SonyMax. When Bedi became an anchor, the media was rife with comments on her appearance. Since then, the idea of female anchors has been normalised.

Sports journalist and anchor Mayanti Langer is a familiar face in Indian cricket, having worked with Star Sports since 2006. She hosted the 2011 Cricket World Cup, the 2014 Indian Super League, the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup, the IPL in 2018 and 2019, and the 2019 Cricket World Cup.

Langer also hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup broadcast on ESPN and has been a regular host for Zee Sports. Langer, who played football in college and is a sports enthusiast, is married to former international cricketer Stuart Binny.

A model-turned-anchor, Ganesan has been presenting cricket matches since 2016, when she first worked with Star Sports. Since then, she’s been a regular at cricket matches, hosting the 2019 world cup from India (the event took place in England), the 2020 Women’s T20 World Cup, the 2021 and 2022 T20 World Cup, the Women’s Premier League in 2023, and many others. Ganesan is married to Indian international cricketer Jasprit Bumrah.

Model and actor Shonali Nagrani was crowned Femina Miss India International in 2003. Since 2006, she has been a regular presenter for cricket matches, starting with the Champions Trophy in the same year. She also hosted the 2007 Cricket World Cup for Indian viewers and the show Extraaa Innings T20 in 2008. The following year, she worked with ESPN and Star Cricket to host the show Stumped alongside former cricketer Wasim Akram. In 2011 she was signed by ITV to co-host the IPL. She then hosted the IPL for four consecutive seasons.

Shibani Dandekar is a model, singer, actor, and anchor. She co-hosted the 2019 Cricket World Cup opening ceremony with former England cricketer Andrew Flintoff and presenter Paddy McGuinness. However, her first stint with cricket anchoring came in 2011 when she co-hosted the show Extraa Innings – T20 on Sony Max during IPL with Archana Vijaya. She hosted the show till 2015. Dandekar is married to actor and director Farhan Akhtar, and also played a small part in Prime Video’s original show, Four More Shots Please.

The winner of Channel V’s Get Gorgeous S1, Vijaya’s first stint with cricket was in 2007 when she was signed to host the show Cricket Tadka Madke on NeoCricket. Later, she co-hosted the IPL in 2011, 2012, 2014, and 2015 with Shibani Dandekar. She returned to hosting IPL in 2017, becoming the only Indian female anchor to have hosted six seasons of IPL. She also hosted the 2018 Nidahas Trophy in Sri Lanka.