Old video of Sourav Ganguly goes viral, where he claims women don't need to play cricket

Sourav Ganguly's comment about women playing cricket resurfaced right after the Indian Women's Cricket Team's World Cup win and has sparked several debates across social media

Sourav Ganguly's remark on women's cricket team derogatively

Sourav Ganguly remarked how women shouldn't be in the Indian cricket team

Published on:

04 Nov 2025, 10:00 am

Updated on:

04 Nov 2025, 10:00 am

2 min read

For the past few days, India has been basking in the glory of its women’s cricket team’s historic World Cup victory. Celebrations are everywhere, and national pride has reached its highest peak. Amid the nationwide wave of celebrations, let's rewind to 2011, as a video resurfaces on the internet, in an interview, Bengal’s favourite former Indian cricket captain, Sourav Ganguly, literally said, “There’s no need for women to play cricket”. Was it a slip of tongue… or subtle misogyny?

Sourav Ganguly’s 2011 remarks on Women’s Cricket go viral as India celebrates World Cup win

An old video has resurfaced online, and it’s got netizens talking. Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly was chatting with a host about cricket and the future of the game when the topic turned to cricketers’ kids. After mentioning Sachin Tendulkar’s son Arjun, the host cheekily asked: what if his daughter Sana wanted to play cricket? Ganguly’s reply? “Ami Sana ke baaron korbo. Meyeder cricket khelaar dorkaar nei (I’ll ask Sana not to, because girls don’t need to play cricket)." Needless to say the Internet has a lot of opinions.

Reporter: What if your daughter Sana wants to play cricket?

Sourav Ganguly: I won’t let her. Women shouldn’t play cricket.

And that’s where he fell from legend to ordinary! 🤡 Real icons lift women up, not limit them sir @SGanguly99 pic.twitter.com/9Vr8AfvsJR
— Bloody Media (@bloody_media) November 4, 2025

Given his stature as one of Indian cricket’s doyens, many expected ‘the Prince of Kolkata’ to show at least some support if his daughter wanted to pursue the game. Yet, the comment from that interview has claimed otherwise and each time through the years it resurfaced, comments flood with reactions. One user on X summed up the public sentiment perfectly: “And we are expecting Women’s IPL from him.”

In the own words of BCCI Chief Saurav Ganguly “meye der cricket khela kono dorkar nei”
ie. “Girls don’t need to play cricket”.

and we are expecting Women’s IPL from him 😂 https://t.co/jkxCMkqIsg
— microaggression (@mutton2pyaza) October 26, 2021

But times have changed. Fast forward to today, Ganguly’s comments have resurfaced at a time when women’s cricket is truly booming in India, with young girls drawing inspiration from stars like Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Smriti Mandhana, and Harmanpreet Kaur, to name just a few and Indian women have broken all the shackles and stereotypes, even from the doyens.

From winning World Cups to inspiring millions of young athletes, the Indian women’s cricket team has proven that talent, hard work, and determination can break all barriers.

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