The idea of a woman commentating on men’s cricket was unheard of and even unthinkable about a decade ago. The reason was not that of women lacked any cricketing gyaan but simply because it was a male-dominated sport and women were not considered worthy enough to even talk or comment about it.
Times changed and it was in the 2003 World Cup that Indian women were first spotted gaining space in this male-dominated arena. We had seen Mandira Bedi hosting the much famed ‘Extra Innings’. Slowly, this picture got better with the Indian Premier League (IPL) hiring more women commentators alongside their male counterparts.
Mayanti Langer and Archana Vijaya have established a reputation of being counted among the best women commentators for the sport today.
Coming to the matter, Star India has emerged as the highest bidder in the IPL media rights auction conducted on Monday in Mumbai. The highest bidder for the Indian television rights was Sony with Rs 11,050 crore. The highest bidder for the Indian digital rights was Facebook with Rs 3,900 crore.
However, Star India was the only one to have a combined bid for all categories which was more than the highest bids of all categories, making it the winner. Star India managed to pip out Sony Pictures by bidding a handsome amount of INR 16,347.50 crores (USD 2.55 billion).
Soon after Star India bagged the IPL media rights, veteran broadcaster and anchor Archana Vijaya took to Twitter to express her happiness over the same. She congratulated Star Sports India for having bagged the IPL media rights for the tenure between 2018 and 2022.
“WOW! Just came on to Twitter and learnt of @StarSportsIndia bagging the #IPLrights. Congratulations ! Upwards and onwards!” tweeted Archana Vijaya.
WOW ! Just came on to Twitter and learnt of @StarSportsIndia bagging the #IPLrights . Congratulations ! Upwards and onwards! 🚀
— Archana Vijaya (@archanavijaya) September 4, 2017
As soon as Archana posted this out, taunts and rebukes poured in, with most people drawing sadistic pleasure by pointing at how “jobless” she is now.
Twitter Reactions:
And now you are jobless
— Pradhyoth (@Pradhyoth1) September 4, 2017
@archanavijaya be like ‘ mujhe maaf karna o Sony ram tujhse pehle star India ka Naam!😂😂#StarIndia
— VIVEK MEHTA (@6643Vivek) September 4, 2017
Jobless queen hahhahahahaha
— Kabir (@Thekabirsalam) September 4, 2017
See You On Star Sports.
— गुरमीत सिंह (@BeingGurmeet) September 4, 2017
Without u ipl will be incomplete, SS don’t do this to us
— Nitesh Mesta (@Nitu_Mesta) September 4, 2017
So mam now u will catch u in Star Sports
— Abhi Biswas (@updatingwait) September 4, 2017
We dnt care about that. We want to see you in every match 😑
— Joseph Aswithan (@Aswithan05) September 4, 2017
so no IPL hosting next year onwards
— Rahul Henriques (@rah_900) September 4, 2017
After people mocked her for her tweet and when Twitterati started calling her “jobless”, she tweeted, “But, what’s more, amusing is the prediction/analysis of my future on my timeline! Haha!”
But, what’s more amusing is the prediction/analysis of my future on my timeline ! Haha! 🤣🤣🤣
— Archana Vijaya (@archanavijaya) September 4, 2017
Finally, IPL broadcast rights, at a recent auction, were won by Star Sports. Earlier Sony Max had these rights. This means, starting from the next season, your favorite IPL will now be telecast on Star Sports.