Despite sport's reputation as a great leveller, Anaya Bangar — daughter of former India cricketer and coach Sanjay Bangar — has alleged that toxic masculinity plagues Indian cricket.
Anaya, who transitioned from Aryan to Anaya following hormonal replacement therapy and gender reaffirming surgery, shared the discrimination and harassment she has faced as a trans-woman in the sport in an interview with the Hindi portal Lallantop.
“There have been a few cricketers who randomly sent me nude pictures of them,” Anaya alleged.
“The person used to give gaalis (abuse) in front of everybody. The same person then used to come and sit beside me and ask for my photos. There was another instance, when I was in India, I told a puraane (veteran) cricketer about my situation. He told me ‘let's go in the car, I want to sleep with you.’”
Anaya didn’t name them.
Responding to a question about when she first realised she was in the wrong gender, Anaya shared, “For me it was when I was eight or nine years old, I used to pick clothes from my mom’s cupboard and wear them. Then, I used to look in the mirror and say, ‘I am a girl. I want to be a girl.’”
Instagram/@anayabangar
Anaya also spoke about the response she received from the cricketing community after her transition. “There has been support and there has been some harassment as well,” she said.
Having followed in her father’s footsteps, Anaya played age-group cricket and had shown promise in the sport.
Her journey took a different turn post-transition, as she faced marginalisation while trying to continue her cricketing career.
Reflecting on her playing days in India, Anaya mentioned having shared the field with now well-known cricketers such as Musheer Khan, Sarfaraz Khan, and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
She admitted to maintaining secrecy about her identity at the time due to her father's public profile. “The cricket world is filled with insecurity and toxic masculinity,” she said.
Anaya has represented Islam Gymkhana in local club cricket in India and Hinckley Cricket Club in Leicestershire, England.
Global cricketing authorities have taken a hard stance against the participation of transgender athletes.
In November 2023, the International Cricket Council (ICC) ruled that transgender athletes will not be allowed to participate in women’s international cricket.
“Inclusivity is incredibly important to us as a sport, but our priority was to protect the integrity of the international women’s game and the safety of players,” ICC CEO Geoff Allardice had said.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has since followed suit, announcing that from 2025, transgender women will be banned from playing at the elite level of women’s domestic cricket.
Anaya took to Instagram to express her disappointment over the ICC’s ruling.
Anaya, who is now based in the United Kingdom, updates her followers about her life in Manchester and her views on issues related to gender and inclusivity in sports on Instagram.
