Stop blaming the non-striker

Comments about wives of cricketers being used as scapegoats led us to a bigger problem plaguing cricket fandom

KARACHI:

In a recent interview with Soni Digital, former cricketer Ramiz Raja addressed the long problem within the cricket community of blaming the players’ spouses and families for their performance drops. 

Raja revealed that players often bring their families with them to tournaments and the pressure of balancing both family and career causes their performances to be affected drastically. However, claiming that their families are not the ones to blame for this but rather, the players' decisions to bring their families with them. 

However, the problem remains. Let’s look at a few instances where the spouses or families were held responsible for the players’ on-field performances. 

Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma 

Bollywood actor Anushka Sharma has been singled out multiple times when her husband, Virat Kohli, did not perform well on the field. For instance, Anushka was held accountable for the defeat in 2014 at Lord's after Kohli was dismissed for zero. 

The most recent one was a plethora of Twitter trolls spreading hatred towards her for India’s loss in the World Test Championship final. One such tweet addressed to Anushka read: “It seems like neither Virat achieves his goals nor does Team India or any player. I kindly request you to consider not attending matches.” 

The star has often faced bigoted comments to the point that her husband had to come out and defend her. In 2016, when they had split for some time, Virat came to her defense in an Instagram post, saying: “Shame on blaming and making fun of her when she has no control over what I do with my sport.” 

Shoaib Malik and Sania Mirza 

Like Anushka, the tennis legend has been long blamed for her ex-husband's performances on the pitch. One such instance is the loss of the Pakistani team against India in the World Cup in 2019. While the fans criticised the players, some pictures of Shoaib Malik sitting in a lounge until late before the match surfaced on social media. 

Although these pictures were later confirmed to be old, this led to the public scrutiny of Sania. Veena Malik, claimed Sania should have not let ‘Shoaib break the curfew’. Shoaib came to her defense in a tweet, reading: “I would like to request media and people to maintain respect levels in regards to our families.” 

Sania, herself, spoke about the hatred wives receive for their husbands’ failure in a video with ‘Double Trouble’ saying: “I think whenever our husbands perform, it’s because of them and when they don’t it’s because of us. I don’t know how that works.” 

Nawab Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and Sharmila Tagore 

If you think this is a recent phenomenon, you may be wrong. Veteran Indian star Sharmila Tagore, was often blamed for her husband’s performance back in the 90s as well. In an interview, she recalled how once Pataudi had dropped a catch, and the public ended up calling her out for ‘keeping him up all night’. 

In another interview, she mentioned she would not accompany her husband on tours, even if she wanted to. She claimed that “On one or two occasions, it was believed that I was somehow responsible for his poor performance.” 

Jasprit Bumrah and Sanjana Ganesan 

Aside from Anushka, other players’ wives were also held accountable for their husbands’ performances in the World Test Championship. This included Sanjana Ganesan, a TV anchor. After Burmah posted a picture with his wife, captioned “smiling with you”, the comments were filled with hatred. 

One comment directed at Sanjana read: “You were a wicketless bowler in the WTC final because of Sanjana.” Others blamed ‘marriage’ as the problem behind Burmah not taking any wickets and asked him to focus on bowling instead of his love life.   

Hasan Ali and Samiya Arzoo 

In 2021, during Australian batting in the World Cup semi-final, Hasan Ali was slammed for giving away runs and dropping Mathew Wade’s crucial catch. It didn’t long for the hate to be extended to the family, especially his wife and his religious identity.  Many trolls on social media claimed his Indian wife, Samiya Arzoo, was the reason he dropped the catch. Some tweets claimed he deliberately gave away runs and made Pakistan lose the match so his wife would feel better.   

The sum of these instances only reconfirms how targeting the wives of male cricketers is slowly becoming endemic to cricket fandom. While the sport has evolved from a five-day game into a 20-over spectacle, with billions of dollars flowing through various franchises, the spectatorship seems fixated on partners who in reality, provide a shoulder to cry on for our cricketers when they fail. The joke is on us.

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