TheSiyasat Daily

 

First in India

By Dr Khalid Siddiqui
Ohio

Aryan Bangar was the son of Indian Test Cricket player, Sanjay Bangar. He played under-19 Cricket for Mumbai.
He underwent sex-change surgery in March 2026. Now ‘she’ is called Anaya Bangar. She will play in Australia’s Women’s Big Bash League in March 2027. However, her testosterone level has to be below 2.5 nanomoles/liter over the previous 24 months.
BCCI has not made a decision yet whether she will be allowed to play in any women’s league in India or not. She has written to the BCCI but has not received a reply yet. She, however, can’t play for India’s national team, as transgender women are banned from women’s international cricket all over the world.
‘He’ had played for Barrow Town in Leicestershire in 2023 and 2024. Interestingly, while she is free to carry on in men’s league cricket there, she is ineligible to play in any women’s cricket in England!
One woman, Caster Semenya from S. Africa, won two gold medals in Women’s 800 meters at the Olympics. She was born as a woman, and always identified herself as a woman, but her testosterone levels have been very high. She had female external genitalia, no uterus or fallopian tubes, but had internal testes! This is a rare chromosomal anomaly. The regular female athletes did protest rightly, because the high testosterone level gave her a definite advantage over the real female athletes. Her case had started all these rules and regulations regarding assigning the athletes to the proper gender category.
Hats off to the medical board that has to decide about the eligibility of these transgender players. The issue has not been fully settled. The individual countries have their own policies for home games; but a standard policy is badly needed for international sports.