'When I met Stuart Binny, we were both nowhere' - Mayanti Langer

Mayanti Langer, the popular sports presenter, had to hustle along at the start of her career. But presently, she is one of the renowned figures in India’s sports broadcasting. She has also featured in pre-match and post-match shows in the Indian Premier League (IPL). However, the 35-year-old Langer understands that the fortunes can turn around for her within a blink of an eye.

Back in 2016, a commentator was removed from the roaster of the IPL, for reasons that still remains pretty unknown. But Mayanti doesn’t want the situation to invade her with ‘fear and insecurity’. Rather, she wishes to stay proud of her achievements thus far in her career.

You did it, be proud, says Mayanti  

“It’s a possibility that you’re aware of. We live in times where you could say something that could be viewed as wrong.” But if it were to end tomorrow, she would have few regrets. “I’ve made peace that every tournament could be my last, that’s the phase of life that I’m in.

It’s not a fear or insecurity. It’s actually a tremendous sense of achievement. I tell myself, ‘Dude, what have you not done? You cracked it, you did it, be proud.’” Mayanti was quoted as saying in an interview with Verve Magazine.

Mayanti came to the fore around 2007, the year when the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) was introduced. It was also the time when she met Stuart Binny, who was a part of the ICL. In 2009, the tournament was scrapped with lack of support from the BCCI as well as the apex board ICC.

We were both nowhere

In September 2012, the duo tied the knots and Mayanti reckons that both their careers turned around after they got together. In 2010, Binny went on to make his IPL debut and then forayed into international cricket in 2014, though his India career hardly took off.

“When we met each other, we were both nowhere. ICL had finished abruptly so he was banned from the system. He hadn’t accepted BCCI amnesty, so he had nothing going for him. I had left Zee so I had nothing going for me. We weren’t nobodies, but we were normal individuals. Everything good that has happened to us in our respective careers has happened after we got together.”

Mayanti is grateful to the game of cricket and its contribution to her life. She also hopes for cricket to help her relationship with Binny flourish in the coming years.

“If that journey brought us together, and made all these incredible things happen for each other, then something is going to work out in the future as well. Maybe we can combine and do something, because our lives are so similar and cricket has given us everything,” she added.