Sanjay Bangar’s trans daughter says male cricketers sent nude pics, a senior wanted to sleep with her

Anaya, trans daughter of former Indian cricketer Sanjay Bangar, has opened up about her harrowing experiences from the cricket fraternity. In an interview with Saurabh Dwivedi on 'The Lallantop', Anaya said some male cricketers even sent her their nude photographs while a senior wanted to have sex with her.

"There have been a few cricketers who have played at a high level. Since they found out about me, they randomly sent me nude pictures of them, hoping that something would happen," Anaya said.

She said a senior cricketer wanted to have sex with her after she showed the courage to come out. "I told an old (purane) cricketer about my situation, and the very next thing he said to me was, 'let's go in your car, I want to sleep with you'. I was quite shocked."

"Even when I was in the UK, some people who were supportive at first changed later. And those who were never supportive began verbally abusing me in front of my teammates. He (some senior cricketer) would say, this trans thing is just fake, and that same person would come and sit next to me during a match and ask my photos."

Cricket dream
Anaya went by the name Aryan before deciding to undergo hormone therapy. Like her father, Anaya was a cricketer and considered it her calling. She played for Mumbai U-16 and Pondicherry U-19 and was part of Mumbai U-23 trials. Anaya played with some of the well-known cricketers now such as Musheer Khan, Sarfaraz Khan and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

However, she claims to have always felt like being in the wrong body. "When I was around 8 or 9 years old. I used to sneak into mom's room and wear her clothes, look in the mirror and say I'm a girl," Anaya said.

Anaya, who was a left-hand batter and left-arm spinner, said she had nurtured the dream of becoming a cricketer till the age of 17, but had to quit the sport eventually and "moved to UK, to do Masters and live a normal life".

Throughout the interview she preferred not to talk about her family, especially her father, who is a popular coach and commentator. Anaya said she had to maintain secrecy about her orientation while growing up "because dad is a well-known figure".

Toxic world of Indian cricket
Anaya said Indian cricket was a difficult place for people who did not fit in naturally into the system. "Cricketing world is an insecure world filled with toxic masculinity. The mindset you need to maintain to flourish in Indian cricket is quite narcissistic and toxic; it is hard to explain with examples.

"It is like you need to be very dominating to excel. It is not like a healthy competition, you have to put others down to thrive or survive. I have not experienced that personally, maybe because I come from a strong background." She moved to the United Kingdom a few years ago to pursue a Masters's degree and has lived there since