Smriti Mandhana is one of India’s most decorated cricketers. She is currently regarded as the best batter in women’s cricket, per the Olympics. She owns a record-setting presence in both WODIs and WT20Is. She is the second cricketer to win the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year award(twice). The list can go on endlessly. Yet, in a matter of hours, all of this was set aside when social media got flooded with rumours surrounding her paused wedding plans. Everything turned into a spectacle of speculation.
We witnessed how discussions transitioned from Smriti’s achievements to alleged scandals involving her fiancé.
In the brouhaha, the internet forgot that the person at the centre of the storm is not just a name to trend, but a cricketer who has carried Indian cricket with excellence.
This mud-throwing episode reflects more about us than the personalities in question.
What Was The Debacle All About?
Smriti Mandhana was all set to tie the knot with music composer Palaash Muchhal. The wedding festivities were all on the go. Pictures flooded from their Haldi ceremony on social media, with fans congratulating them.
However, fate had other plans for the couple. The wedding got postponed due to a medical crisis at Smriti’s home. Smriti’s father was hurried to the nearby hospital after suffering heart-related issues.
Soon after, controversies were manufactured across social media, after screenshots that alleged that Palaash was cheating on Smriti went viral. A woman named Mary D’Costa shared the screenshots on her Instagram stories. Later, things took an unhealthy turn with opinionated theories on social media.
The Social Media Circus Tells More About Us
The incident shows how, as a society, we often reduce women to their relationships. It shows how eagerly we swallow gossip over accomplishment, and how seldom we allow public figures the privacy we expect for ourselves.
Smriti Mandhana deserves applause for her cricket.
When we choose to amplify noise, we fail the values we ferociously claim to uphold.
