When the captain of the Indian women’s cricket team was banned for two matches and fined for smashing the stumps with her bat in an angry outburst in July, the social media reaction was swift and harsh: Harmanpreet Kaur was called “pathetic” for her anger on the pitch, and labelled “disgusting and stupid”.
This is in stark contrast to the way people respond to male aggression in the sport. A quick search of the web will find numerous discussion forums and articles lauding the “angry men of Indian cricket that you wouldn’t want to mess with”, and cricketers such as Virat Kohli, who has been nicknamed “the Hulk” because “he is angry all the time”.
