If cricket fans across the eras are to be believed, the game has always been on the brink of extinction. The game should have died yesterday; somehow it survived today, but tomorrow it will definitely slip into oblivion. The unintended consequence of this perpetual mode of apprehension is that on days when there are no real obstacles to overcome and no real issues to solve, imaginary problems must be conjured up, solely because the fight must go on; the chatter machine must keep ticking.
Last month, attention fell on women’s cricket, and this purportedly novel effort to ‘save’ it brought in droves of commentators, cricketers, and even those who have always justified its marginal status by claiming it can’t generate more revenue. Everyone came in unison to protect the sanctity of women’s cricket from what they believed, and want us to believe, is the biggest threat to its existence: the possibility of trans athletes competing in women’s sports. This war was waged in the wake of the latest development surrounding Anaya Bangar, a transgender cricketer from India, also the daughter of former Indian cricketer Sanjay Bangar. This was after she received a nod from Cricket Australia (CA) to play elite-level women’s cricket, which would eventually make her eligible to play in the Big Bash League (BBL), Australia's premier T20 competition, next year.
