Aryan to Anaya - former India cricketer and ex-coach Sanjay Bangar's child, shared her journey of transition from being a boy to a trans woman on Instagram. Anaya mentioned that she feels comfortable and more of herself after years of sadness and suppression but that journey is slowly taking away her first love from her, cricket. Anaya, who lives in Manchester and has represented Hinckley Cricket Club in Leicestershire in the past after playing local cricket club opened up on the heartbreaking and sad reality.
“I never thought I’d have to consider giving up the sport that has been my passion, my love, and my escape. But here I am, facing a painful reality… The game I’ve loved for so long is slipping away from me," Anaya wrote on Instagram mentioning that growing up, cricket has always been part of her life watching her father play for and coach India but now it felt like the system and lack of regulations are forcing her out of the game.
“What hurts more is that there are no proper regulations for trans women in cricket. It feels like the system is forcing me out, not because I lack the drive or talent, but because the rules haven’t caught up with the reality of who I am," Anaya added.
Anaya, who identifies as a woman, underwent a nine-month hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and now that she feels comfortable in herself, she mentioned that she is losing her muscle mass, strength, muscle memory and athletic abilities she once relied on and the dream of representing India seems to be 'slipping away'. Anaya had shared a reel of being a young kid learning the ropes of the game from her father, pictures with Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni and images of her scoring 145 in a game and what she can do on the field but she had to delete the same.
Recently ECB banned transgender women from playing the top two-tier cricket of England's domestic structure including The Hundred and she reacted by saying, "It sucks being a trans athlete."
"It's heartbreaking that the body I've worked so hard, to align with my true self is now seen as a barrier to continuing my cricket journey in the women's category," Anaya added being aware of the harsh reality of transgender in sport in general. The recent incident of the Algerian boxer Imane Khelif was another reminder of people jumping to conclusions rather quickly before understanding the whole issue even though Anaya's case is completely different.
"We need policies that don't make us choose between our identity and our passions. Trans women deserve the right to compete, play and thrive," Anaya signed off as comments showed a bit of empathy, which many on X (previously Twitter) and other platforms didn't which forced her to delete her transformation journey Twitter.
