‘Cricketers sent me nude pics’: Anaya, child of Team India ex-batting coach Sanjay Bangar, drops bombshell

Anaya Bangar, the child of former Team India batting coach and Indian all-rounder Sanjay Bangar, made a sensational claim that some well-known cricketers sent her nude pictures after she underwent gender reaffirmation surgery.

 

Anaya was formerly known as Aryan and has played age-group cricket. Aryan had played for Islam Gymkhana in Mumbai's local club cricket before representing Hinckley Cricket Club in Leicestershire. He had shared his hormonal transformation journey in an Instagram post last year which had pictures with Virat Kohli, M.S. Dhoni and his father, but deleted it soon after.

 

Anaya had since then, in other Instagram posts, opened up on the Hormone Replacement Therapy and also on stepping away from cricket because of it.

 

In an interview with The Lallantop, Anaya revealed the toxic masculinity existing in the cricket ecosystem in the country. “I have played with some well-known cricketers like Musheer Khan, Sarfaraz Khan, and Yashasvi Jaiswal. I had to maintain secrecy about myself because dad is a well known figure. Cricket world is filled with insecurity and toxic masculinity,” Anaya said.

 

She added that post her gender reaffirmation surgery, she faced harassment. “There have been a few cricketers who randomly sent me nude pictures of them.” Anaya also spoke about people who would ask her for pictures. “There was another instance, when I was in India, I told a veteran cricketer about my situation. He told me, ‘let's go in the car, I want to sleep with you’.”

 

Talking about the realisation about her gender, Anaya said that she would pick clothes from her mother’s wardrobe at the age of eight or nine, wear them and wish to be a girl.

 

Anaya lives in the UK now.

 

Who is Sanjay Bangar, father of Anaya?

 

The all-rounder may have played only 12 Tests and 15 ODIs for the national team, but he was force to reckon with in domestic cricket. In 165 First Class matches, he scored 8,349 runs and took 300 wickets. In fact, when he retired in 2013, he and Vijay Hazare were the only two cricketers to have 6,000 runs and 200 wickets to their name in the Ranji Trophy.

 

Bangar also led the Railways team to three domestic titles.

 

He took up coaching after retirement, and was in charge of the India A side. He was also a consultant at the National Cricket Academy in Benguluru. Bangar was appointed the Indian batting coach in 2014, and continued till 2019. He also served as the head coach of Kings XI Punjab in the IPL. He is now a cricket commentator.

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