Men Are Melting Down Because Cricket Is No Longer Gatekept

Gals, are you also practically terrified of saying you like sports in front of a man because you know the first thing coming out of his mouth will be something along the lines of "yeah name 5 players" or "what's offside"? Because SAME. 

Content Warning: the incoming piping hot tea might be too “feminine” for some of our fellow macho men. Please proceed with caution. 

When the Indian Women’s Cricket Team won the ICC Women’s World Cup Finals 2025, it was a triumph of a collective that echoed beyond the boundary. They sparkled—skilful and unapologetically bold, something that would undeniably piss off those male fans of cricket, a highly male-dominated sport. It was, understandably, a tough blow for their extremely fragile egos to watch the women dominate the field magnificently. 

Before winning the World Cup Finals, the Indian women’s team had lost two back-to-back matches in the World Cup, and suddenly, social media has turned into a playground for the worst kind of misogyny. It wasn't about tactics, selections, or strike rates anymore; it was about reminding women of their place, of where they “belong.” Men with peas for brain cells, typing out kitchen jokes, are probably the worst kinds of digital atrocities. The old clips of men saying “women should never play cricket” were being retweeted with glee after their big win.

The same people who considered themselves all-knowing cricket deities switched sides faster than a chameleon changing colours when Jemimah Rodrigues scored a record-breaking 127 against Australia in the World Cup semi-final. The same bullies suddenly turned into fans, drowning her in praises. If someone needs lessons in blatant hypocrisy, they should hit these men up.

What is yet another cherry on top is how the bro-code of insecurity worked wonders on the internet during this time. You know the type- men who treat disrespecting women like their favourite team sport, hoping for a little high five, a “haha, you got her” from the boys after a particularly weak punchline. There was a reel floating around with the picture of Apoorva Mukhija (content creator on Instagram) and Jemimah Rodrigues, indicating how men supporting Jemimah are somehow “superior” or “better” than women supporting or liking Apoorva. The creator of the reel draws a weird and unnecessary comparison between two women, undermining them and their individual works to impress their rather sad fan club of insecure men who seek reasons to criticise women. The irony is that the men whose validation they so desperately crave are just as miserable, so it’s a never-ending cycle of mediocre men patting each other’s backs. 

Source: sarcasticaty on Instagram

After the team won the finals, netizens, among other praises, kept quoting “humari chhoriya chhoror se kam hai ke”—a dialogue from the 2016 movie Dangal—repeatedly. The dialogue, used as a “compliment,” is frustrating precisely because it is so reductive, indicating that men are the default standard of success against which women are constantly compared or belittled. The line might sound supportive on the surface, but it’s built on a rotten foundation, reinforcing a hierarchy where the notion of women needing to be validated by outperforming men is furthered, while minimising the women’s performance by positioning the men as the benchmark of success that they must achieve to be worthy of respect. 

But gossip gal is here to fuel the fire with a tip to ragebait misogynistic male cricket fans. Refer to Virat Kohli as the male Harmanpreet Kaur or Rohit Sharma as Smriti Mandhana. Watch their world crash and burn!

Research on the behaviour of the male audience throughout the course of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 reveals that the male fans were just butthurt that not only did the girlies win, they also served Australia its first-ever women’s Test defeat. All while the male cricket team lost against the same country! Why would the women be in the kitchen when they can cook their haters this hard from sold-out cricket stadiums?

Men, keep coping, and gallipops, I will see you very soon!

xoxo

💋Gossip Gal💋