Ending the speculation regarding her availability, Star Sports, on Thursday, confirmed that Mayanti Langer won’t be part of the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). One of the finest sports anchors in the country, Mayanti was part of the panel in past two IPL seasons and has also covered numerous ICC events. Her absence from IPL 13, however, has left the fans surprised.

Star Sports named her replacement and also announced a full-fledged panel of presentaters. Suren Sundaram, Kira Narayanan, Suhail Chandhok, Nashpreet Kaur, Sanjana Ganesan, Jatin Sapru, Tanya Purohit, Anant Tyagi, Dheeraj Juneja and Neroli Meadows will be presenting the tournament, Star confirmed it its tweet. Jatin Sapru has also commentated in live matches and will share the mic on Hindi panel.

The reason behind Mayanti’s absence isn’t known yet. It remains to be seen if the veteran TV presenter reveals the reason behind her absence.

Earlier this week, Star Sports had also announced a star-studded commentary panel. Surprisingly, there was no comeback for Sanjay Manjrekar. The noted commentator had written to BCCI to reinstate him in the commentary panel but seems like the board is in no mood to bring him back. He was sacked by BCCI in March.

Sunil Gavaskar has already landed in UAE and will once again share the mic with his son, Rohan Gavaskar. Anjum Chopra and Lisa Sthalekar are two female commentators in the panel. Mark Nicholas, who is mostly seen in South Africa’s matches now, will also share his expertise.

Former chief selectors Kris Srikanth and MSK Prasad will be calling the game in Tamil and Telugu, respectively. Ashish Nehra, Sanjay Bangar and other Hindi commentators are likely to do commentary from Mumbai.

IPL 2020 kicks off on September 19 with Mumbai Indians (MI) taking on Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Both the teams have participated in number of practice sessions and are geared up for the season.

Every member of MI is available for selection while CSK will be without Ruturaj Gaikwad. Sam Curran and Josh Hazlewood, who landed in UAE on Thursday, will also be available for selection should they test negative for COVID-19 twice.