Anaya Bangar Challenges ICC with Scientific Proof for Women's Cricket Eligibility

Jun, 21 2025

Transgender Cricketer Anaya Bangar Takes on Sporting Bans with Science

When talk about fairness in women's sports lands in the headlines, it's usually lost in opinion. But Anaya Bangar is cutting through the noise with something far more concrete—a hefty stack of scientific data. Bangar, daughter of renowned former Indian cricketer Sanjay Bangar, isn't just asking for a chance to play women's cricket. She's armed herself with evidence, challenging some of the sport's toughest gatekeepers—the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

If you follow cricket, the debate over transgender athletes isn't new. In 2023, ICC dropped a heavy ban on transgender women playing in official women's matches. The BCCI quickly echoed the restrictions. The rules say it’s about keeping the playing field level for cisgender women, but critics have called it exclusionary. Now, Anaya Bangar is stepping right into the heart of this storm with her eight-page scientific report, released to the public and peppered with details that few can dismiss as mere politics.

This isn't just another open letter or emotional plea. Bangar and a research team from Manchester Metropolitan University ran three months (January to March 2025) of detailed physiological testing. They didn’t simply check her hormone levels and call it a day. They looked at muscle power, cardiovascular endurance, glucose management, and oxygen capacity. The aim: see exactly where she landed compared to cisgender female athletes.

The results? Bangar's numbers matched up squarely with those of typical cisgender women playing sport at a similar level. Muscle strength, stamina, metabolic markers—everything fell inside the expected female range post-hormone replacement therapy (HRT). That didn’t just happen overnight. Two years of consistently monitored HRT ensured her muscle mass and performance metrics reflected the changes. And she’s laying it out for everyone, page by page, as clear as a scoreboard.

Anaya Bangar’s connection to cricket runs deep. Before her transition, as Aryan, she played junior cricket in Mumbai, sharing the field with future stars like Sarfaraz Khan. Her dad, Sanjay, has always been by her side, first as a coach—now as an advocate. The family’s profile puts them under a brighter spotlight, but it also gives their case more weight in a sport obsessed with tradition.

Putting Science on the Front Line of Policy

Bannar’s report doesn’t just talk about eligibility—it aims to force a rethink of how bodies like the ICC and BCCI handle transgender athletes. The science is straight: she’s not seeking special treatment, just a fair shot. She expects to send her dossier to both organizations, pressing them to look at data before making blanket bans. The BCCI’s 2023 policy mirrored the ICC’s line, but has never been tested against comprehensive, athlete-specific science like this.

The stage is set for a collision between outdated rules and new information. Sports bodies have mostly used general assumptions about "male advantage" to justify restrictions. Bangar’s testing sidesteps the emotion and tackles the numbers directly. She isn’t saying, "trust me"; she’s saying, "test me."

Bangar hopes her methods become the blueprint, not just for cricket but for other sports stuck in similar debates. Her story's not only about hitting cricket balls or chasing a marquee debut. It’s about who gets to play, how we measure fairness, and what role science should play when policies shape careers, dreams, and the future of women’s sports.