Exclusive: There has been no support from Indian cricket, says Anaya Bangar

Time of India

11 hours ago

Cricketer-social media influencer Anaya Bangar, (inset) formerly Aryan
"As far as support from Indian cricket is concerned, there has been silence. No institution or player has come forward to ask, 'How are you doing? Do you need help navigating this? You played our game.
Why did we leave you behind?' The assumption that all trans women have an inherent advantage in sport is scientifically outdated. I've been on medically supervised hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for over a year. My body falls well within the cisgender female athlete range according to the report from Manchester University. If transwomen meet scientifically agreed performance margins based on hormone levels, strength metrics, and transition timelines why should they be denied the right to compete?"
It hasn't been an easy road for 25-year-old Anaya Bangar, daughter of ex-cricketer
Sanjay Bangar
.
Formerly Aryan, Anaya was born a boy but always identified as a woman. Her gender transition journey including HRT (hormone replacement therapy), required much more than mental resilience and blocking of external noises that doubted if this is just a ploy for seeking attention. It meant giving up a sport that she plays and deeply cherishes – cricket. Not only in India but globally, there's resistance to inclusion of transwomen in women's sports on the grounds of biological differences affecting performance.
However, Anaya is confident that these policies should change given the recent studies and tests she herself underwent that support her argument that trans women have no biological advantage over cisgender women. In a candid chat with BT, Anaya shared her journey.
For the first time in August last year, you came out as a trans woman through a post on Instagram. Did you always feel like a woman trapped in a man's body?
It all started when I was 8-9 years old.
I would hide in my room and wear my mom's clothes. Whenever I looked in the mirror, I saw a girl. I wanted to be a girl. I kept this to myself until my 20's. It was suffocating. I was ashamed of myself for feeling the way I did. I feared how the world and my family would react. I kept doubting my thoughts and calling myself wrong for not aligning with my birth gender. I adapted my body language to make it seem boyish just so that I can fit in with the other boys.
At the age of 21, I found the courage to finally own who I am. I opened about my identity to a few friends during lockdown because it gave me time to introspect. For a decade before that, not a single person knew what I was going through. It did affect my mental health.
How accepting was your inner circle?
I have made my peace with isolation. Support has been minimal. My parents paid for my HRT, and for that I'm grateful. But every other part of my transition from laser hair removal, cosmetic procedures, clothing, jewellery, media prep I've had to manage myself. Could be a case of habit but till date my parents refer to me as Aryan and not Anaya. As far as support from Indian cricket is concerned, there has been silence. No institution or player has come forward to ask, 'How are you doing? Do you need help navigating this?' After this report comes out, I am open to having discussions with
BCCI
, ICC and other institutions to have a fair and just discussion about this.
There's no point waiting for support. I became one. For myself, and for every athlete who's waiting to be seen.
So, it's a lone battle?
The truth is I've been doing all this alone. I didn't inherit a system. I didn't inherit a team. I inherited silence and I've had to build a voice loud enough to survive it. My parents helped me with the basics; they paid for my hormone therapy. But the rest? The emotional cost, the financial cost, the daily cost of becoming a woman the world doesn't know how to hold.
That's all from my savings since the time I have been playing age group Cricket.
I've had to keep showing up with a smile when I wasn't sure if I could afford my next dose. I've had to explain myself in rooms that only ever saw me as a 'controversy.' No one from Indian cricket called to say, 'You played our game. Why did we leave you behind?' I don't want pity. I want a policy. I want a system where the next trans girl who wants to pick up a bat isn't told she's a threat but told she's welcome.
I want my story to be the last one that had to be built on survival instead of support.
Anaya Bangar, Location: Dadar SOCIAL; (inset) father Sanjay Bangar
After you called out toxic masculinity in Indian cricket, you were labelled as an attention seeker. How do you deal with this backlash?
Every time a woman, especially a transwoman, speaks openly about her experience, there's a section of people who try to dismiss it as 'attention seeking.' That's not criticism. That's deflection. If I had stayed quiet about being harassed or disrespected by people in power, I would've been praised for being 'disciplined.'
But silence is what allows toxicity to thrive. I didn't share my truth for attention. I shared it for the people who'll think twice before doing something to some other girl which I had to go through.
(Anaya shared how a cricketer sent her inappropriate pictures to the DM). And if my voice makes some people uncomfortable, maybe it's time they are asked why they were comfortable with the behaviour I exposed.
There's a lot of debate around trans women having biological advantage in elite female sport, which is why it's unfair to cisgender women. Your thoughts?
The assumption that all trans women have an inherent advantage in sport is scientifically outdated.
I've been on medically supervised hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for over a year. My testosterone levels are 0.5 nmol/L, which is within and in some cases, below the cis female range. My muscle mass, power output, and recovery ability have reduced significantly, which aligns with what international studies (including the SIT01 report) have documented in transitioned athletes.
My body falls well within the cisgender female athlete range according to the report from Manchester University. The research was done by Dr Blair Hamilton. Inclusion isn't about erasing fairness, it's about redefining it using data, not fear. That's why I advocate for sport-specific, case-by-case assessments not blanket bans. If transwomen meet scientifically agreed performance margins based on hormone levels, strength metrics, and transition timelines why should they be denied the right to compete?
But higher Testosterone tends to be associated with better physical performance for athletes, doesn't it?
Yes, testosterone contributes to physical development in puberty but when suppressed medically for 12+ months, its performance benefits decline rapidly.
In my case, regular blood work shows a testosterone level of 0.5 nmol/L — and zero athletic advantage compared to cis female athletes. Any governing body that truly cares about fairness should evaluate outcomes, not assumptions. If I test within the cis female athletic margins, shouldn't I be given the same rights as any other woman? I've got scientific evidence to back whatever I'm saying.
My conclusion is based on my medical examination with a reputed university.
The ICC, ECB, FA ruling for trans women
The International Cricket Council (ICC), global governing body of cricket in 2023 stated, 'Any player who has transitioned from male to female and has been through any form of male puberty will not be allowed to participate in women's international cricket, regardless of any surgery or gender reassignment treatment they may have undertaken.'
English football's governing body (FA) also made changes in their policy and said only those born biologically female will be permitted to play women's football at all levels. 'Transgender women will no longer be able to play in women's football in England, and this policy will be implemented from June 1, 2025.' This was following the UK Supreme Court's ruling on April 16 that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex.
On May 2, the English Cricket Board (ECB) followed suit. It said, 'With immediate effect, only those whose biological sex is female will be eligible to play in women's cricket and girls' cricket matches.'