As ex-cricketer Sanjay Bangar’s daughter reignites debate on trans people in sport, here’s what rules say

‘System is forcing me into an impossible situation. Setting standards I couldn’t have met even if I’d wanted to,’ wrote Anaya Bangar who lives in Manchester and transitioned recently.

Indian cricketer Sanjay Bangar’s transgender daughter Anaya | Instagram @AnayaBangar

New Delhi: “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.” This post by former Indian cricketer Sanjay Bangar’s transgender daughter Anaya, triggered a debate over the treatment of transgender people in the sport.

The 23-year-old currently living in Manchester, England, took to Instagram last week to share her transformation journey, revealing that she underwent Hormone replacement therapy (HRT). But what caught the attention of many was her criticism of rules that virtually disqualify her or other trans persons from playing professional cricket.

In one such Instagram post, she expressed anguish at not being eligible to compete at the highest level of cricket owing to gender-specific rules by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). The post sparked a heated debate with some questioning if barring trans persons from the game makes it equal for all.

“As a trans woman on hormone replacement therapy (HRT), my body has changed drastically. I’ve been losing muscle mass, strength, muscle memory, and athletic abilities I once relied on. The game I’ve loved for so long is slipping away from me,” Anaya wrote. “What hurts more is that there are no proper regulations for trans women in cricket.”

She also said that her “testosterone levels are down to 0.5 nmol, the lowest it can be for an average cisgender woman”.

“Despite this, I still don’t have a place to represent my country or play at a professional level as my authentic self.”

She went on to point out that for a trans person to compete in women’s sports, the person “should have transitioned before male puberty”.

“But here’s the contradiction, society and the legal system make it illegal to transition as a minor. So, what am I supposed to do? The system is forcing me into an impossible situation. Setting standards I couldn’t have met even if I’d wanted to. 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,” said Anaya, underlining the need for policies that “don’t make us choose between our identity and our passions”.

Trans women, she added, “deserve the right to compete, play, and thrive”.

Against this backdrop, ThePrint looks at rules governing the participation of trans persons in professional cricket.

Transgender players in cricket

The debate over participation of trans players in professional cricket can be traced back to August 2023 when 30-year-old Danielle McGahey was included in the Canadian women’s squad for Americas region qualifier tournament ahead of 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup.

McGahey was the first trans person to be part of an international cricket squad. The Australia-born who moved to Canada in 2020 and underwent a transition in 2021 went on to play six games, scoring 118 runs at an average of 19.66 and a strike rate of 95.93.

At the time, ICC rules allowed players who had transitioned if their testosterone levels were “less than 5 nmol/l (nanomole per litre) continuously for a period of at least 12 months, and that she is ready, willing and able to continue to keep it below that level for so long as she continues to compete in the female category of competition”.

These guidelines were brought in through amendments in the Player Eligibility Regulations in 2021. In the guidelines, ICC defined trans persons as “individuals whose gender identity is different from the biological sex assigned to them at birth (whether they are pre- or post-puberty, and whether or not they have undergone any form of medical intervention)”.

But McGahey’s cricketing career was short-lived, given that only a few months after the end of the qualifier tournament, ICC further amended the Player Eligibility Regulations to prohibit those who had transitioned after attaining any form of male puberty, irrespective of any surgery or gender reassignment treatment they may have undertaken.

The revised guidelines were brought in after a nine-month long consultation process overseen by ICC Medical Advisory Committee chaired by Dr Peter Harcourt.

The ICC had said in a statement at the time that the revised rules are “based on the following principles (in order of priority), protection of the integrity of the women’s game, safety, fairness and inclusion”.

ThePrint reached ICC for comment but had not received a response by the time of publication. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.

Country-specific regulations

While the ICC, global governing body of the game, drafted a policy for international games last November, it allowed the respective cricketing boards of various countries to take a call on whether to allow trans persons.

Taking a cue from the ICC guidelines, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) too initiated its own consultation process and announced last month that it had decided to adopt the ICC’s policy on the issue as its own.

In a detailed statement, ECB said the policy will come into effect starting the next domestic home season and will be applicable across all levels of women’s cricket including Tiers 1 and 2 of the new women’s domestic structure from 2025, and the city-based Hundred Women’s competition.

On the other side is Cricket Australia that has continued to back inclusion and made it clear that ICC’s rules for participation of trans persons will have no bearing on its policy, first introduced in 2019, that paved the way for participation of transgender women in cricket.

(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)