00:00No way this is a woman. Are men allowed to play on the women's team? Is this a woman from
00:04any
00:05angle? These are just some of the comments being made about Bharti Fulmali, a cricketer who is
00:09about to represent India at the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 beginning June 12. But instead of
00:15discussing her batting, many online are discussing her face. So who is Bharti Fulmali? Bharti comes
00:20from Amravati in Bharashtra. She started playing cricket at just 13 years old, broke into the
00:25Vidarbha under-19 team as a teenager and made her senior domestic debut at 17. Her powerful
00:30six-hitting even earned her a nickname, Vidarbha's Lady Gayle. This isn't someone who appeared
00:35overnight. She has spent over a decade grinding domestic cricket, waiting for opportunities,
00:40even applying for government jobs at one point because domestic cricket alone wasn't financially
00:45enough. After years in domestic cricket and an India debut in 2019, Bharti disappeared from the
00:50national side for seven years. But she reinvented herself as a power finisher for franchisees
00:55and fought her way back into India's World Cup squad. Yet social media isn't talking about
01:00all of this. It's talking about whether she looks feminine enough. And Bharti says it hurts.
01:05In interviews, she has spoken openly about her comments on her appearance affect her. But
01:10she has learned to mentally deal with it because many women cricketers face similar trolling.
01:14Serena Williams was mocked for being too muscular. Caster Semenya faced years of scrutiny over her
01:19body and gender. During the Olympics, boxer Imani Khalif became the centre of online gender speculation
01:24despite competing legally. And closer home, women athletes with short hair, muscular bodies
01:29or deeper voices are constantly judged for not fitting society's idea of femininity.
01:34So why do women athletes have to pass an internet beauty test before we even talk about this sport?
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