It is not easy to be a woman who defies conventional norms of beauty. Cricketer Bharti Fulmali, the cricketer who made it to India’s World Cup Squad had to deal with taunts and online trolling for her unconventional looks. While she was busy earning her place in the T20 World Cup Squad, many anonymous trolls called her “a man”, questioned her gender identity, and attacked her for her looks. Hailing from Maharashtra, Fulmali comes from a middle class family. Her father was a school teacher and the family’s bread winner. When she expressed interest in cricket, he backed her dream. She picked up a bat at 13, broke into Vidarbha’s under 19 team as an adolescent, made her senior debut at 17. Her habit of hitting sixes earned her the moniker ‘Vidarbha’s Lady Gayle’. She eventually made a position at India’s World Cup Squad. While representing Gujarat Giants in the WPL 2026, Fulmali opened up on dealing with consistent trolling on her appearance. “It feels really bad when people question you based on your looks and your personality. It’s very difficult, because I’ve been seeing this for the last three years, ever since I came into the WPL. There are a lot of comments, and most of them are negative. There’s a very dark side to it,” she said in a video on Gujarat Giants. “We have matches, we have practice sessions, and we use social media. I do too—and I use it quite deeply—because I genuinely like knowing what people are saying about me, whether they’re saying good things or not. That curiosity is natural; everyone has it, you would too, definitely,” Fulmali said.“But when I look at the comment section, there’s a lot of hate. Of course, there are good comments as well, but the percentage is a bit low. So it does affect you a little, it does hurt your feelings. But now I’ve learned to deal with it,” she added.