Mayanti Langer: The face of sports broadcasting in India

In a country like India where sports are an obsession and players are treated like gods, once in while comes an outsider who is recognised by the fans as much as any who play these games.

Mayanti Langer, 32, the host of many sports broadcasting shows in the country is one of them.

Though she has not been a professional player herself, unlike many guests on her shows, Langer has become the face that viewers expect to see before, during and after the matches, bringing to them all the analysis as she talks to experts.

While currently associated with Star Sports, she has already covered a number of major international sports events in her career and has a lot of experience of working with other channels in the country as well.

So much so that she has become one of the most renowned names when it comes to football TV journalists from India.

Though coming from a non-sports background, having been born 8 February 1985 to Lt. General Sanjiv Langer and a teacher, Preminda Langer, she did her graduation in Bachelor of Arts from the Hindu College in New Delhi.

She got her first break in broadcasting when she was picked to be the guest anchor for a FIFA Beach Football event. Zee network approached her to be the host of their show, Football Cafe.

And this where her long stint of working with the network began as she then went on to be the face of a number of other football related shows. But she did not just stop at this, as she went on to conduct interviews and do commentary for matches.

The highlight of Langer's career as a broadcaster came when she got the chance to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup with the likes of John Dykes. The year turned to be a major success for her as she was the host of the Commonwealth Games as well, which were held in her hometown, New Delhi.

She though did not just stick with football, as the following year she was roped in by ESPN Star Sports for their coverage of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup, played primarily in India. This was her first major foray into the world of cricket broadcasting.

On a personal front, she married domestic cricketer Stuart Binny, who is the son of former Indian all-rounder Roger Binny, in the year 2012. Stuart eventually got his big break in international cricket two years later as part of the limited-overs side.

And then the public witnessed her cricket engagements increase as she became the host on Ten Cricket's coverage of India's 2013 Test series in South Africa, which was followed by her coverage of the last season of the Champions League T20 along with being one of the hosts for Star Sports in the 2015 ICC World Cup.

Now, Langer has been working with Star Sports and hosted the 2016 edition of the ICC World Twenty20. And she continues to be a part of various shows related to cricket and other sports on the various Star Sports channels.

And during the 2016 VIVO IPL, she did the analysis along with other former players on the 'Cricket Live' show for the live streaming of matches on Starsports.com.

Such a prominent career so far has now made Langer one of the most established names in the world of sports journalism on TV, and if her performance so far is anything to go by, this just seems to be the beginning for her.

OneIndia News