Bhavna Balakrishnan interview: Tamil presenter on foray into cricket, CSK's title chances and more

In this interview with Firstpost.com, Tamil cricket presenter and commentator Bhavna Balakrishnan reminisces about her transition from the entertainment industry to the sporting industry, elaborates on the challenges she faced in the initial stages and discusses the gradual changing mindset and gender stereotypes of women working in the sporting sphere. She is also on the panel with other Tamil cricket experts for the current iteration of the IPL 2021 Excerpts from the interview: What was your first tryst with the IPL like and how has the journey been from then till now? I was in the entertainment industry, and I had been working there for a decade. When they told me I was going to do sports presentation, or when I was thinking of transitioning to sports, I thought I would start off with something like Kabaddi because it was low pressure. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to succeed in sports because it obviously needs a different specification. With regards to IPL, in the first year, I was extremely nervous even though I had a lot of experience doing live television. I was very nervous about venturing into sports, something that I wasn’t comfortable with and something that I didn’t watch intensely. I was watching it from a fan’s perspective, so I didn’t know exactly how to dissect the game. A lot of work went into it, but I could not let down my team, who sat with me and guided me through it. So, full credit to them. What are some of the challenges you faced while entering cricket? I had to make an effort every day. I had never really seen cricket from the perspective of analysing the game. I had only watched as a fan. I didn’t understand the technicalities of it. For me, doing live television is number one, but number two is to ask relevant questions. In the entertainment industry, you can get by our charm, but in the sports industry, there’s no charm, unless you have content. I understood that early on. It’s not like I wasn’t able to deliver content, it’s just delivering at the right time and at the right count, also asking the right questions because you have people who have played the game at the highest level sitting beside you. You have a fan following in South India. How was the reception when you began sharing the same stage with big names from the cricket world? Some of them said don’t do it. I still remember some of them saying, ‘Why are you going into sport, and why are you not here with your previous channel? And then some said that I will be able to do it. It was a mixed set of emotions I received. But what I really was happy about was, was that CSK won the first IPL I covered.

It was CSK’s comeback and my introduction to the world of sport. It was a great year and I remember a lot of people told me afterwards that it was the right decision and that I was better as a sports presenter than an entertainment anchor and I think that was the biggest compliment I’ve ever received. How important do you feel is it for women to share the stage while analyzing cricket in the studio? I think it’s so important to be more than a woman in the shortstop talking about sport. Thanks to people like Mayanti Langer, who I absolutely love, things have turned around. She has managed to strive in an environment where she has gained respect from everyone only because of her hard work. This inclusion in every industry, you see women taking charge in the corporate world as well. If you’re interested in sport, and you’re willing to do the hard work and you’re able to stand shoulder to shoulder with any of the other male presenters, then you deserve respect and you will achieve success. I don’t think it’s about male and female anymore. We’ve started encouraging Indian women’s cricket as well because they’ve started performing well. So, I think it’s just about that. If you’re team does well and they prove themselves worthy, then you will get behind them and it’s the same for an individual. What will be your advice to women who would like to follow in your footsteps? With me, it happened by accident. If somebody is planning a career in sports, I would say read and watch. These are the two biggest things. So, read about the sport and watch it as much as you can. Thankfully, with technology, we are privileged enough to watch any game that happens all around the world today. So, keep the TV, IPad or laptop on. While you’re having a conversation, be sure to update yourself on everything that’s happening in the cricketing world and also have a lot of conversations around it because when you speak about it, it sort of registers in your head. With respect to presenting, language is a huge plus. So, if you’re very confident in the language that you’re presenting in, then the sport is something that you need to work on, so these are the two factors. Do you think the Chennai Super Kings can clinch the title this time? I absolutely do. I have grown up in an era where I have watched MS Dhoni rise to fame. For me, he’s the No 1 cricketer in the world. I am an MS fan and I have no qualms about saying that. I have done multiple shows with him, I have been fortunate to have conversations with him and he’s incredible, not just as a cricketer, but as a human being. I hope they make it to the top. [caption id=“attachment_10028861” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] File image of Bhavna Balakrishnan. Image courtesy: Star Sports[/caption] I think this time they seem pretty solid and obviously, the Chennai girl in me hopes their arch-rivals don’t make it to the final, like the repeat of 2019. So, yeah, I believe they have a massive chance and because we are heading into the 2022 auction, I’m not sure if MSD will lead CSK next year, so I want him to leave on a high.