Divorce rumours about Dhanashree Verma and Yuzvendra Chahal have circulated since 2022, with the couple unfollowing each other and deleting their pictures. On a Humans of Bombay podcast, Uorfi Javed discussed how women are often portrayed as villains in controversies involving male athletes.
Host Karishma Mehta talked about the backlash Dhanashree Verma faced online after her split rumors with Yuzvendra Chahal. She mentioned how Dhanashree’s posts were flooded with hateful comments. Uorfi Javed shared that she had supported Dhanashree publicly, and Dhanashree personally thanked her, saying she was struggling.
In her original post in support of Dhanshree, Uorfi wrote, “Everytime a cricketer is breaking up or getting divorced, the woman is bashed left right and centre just because in our head our cricketer is our hero. None of us have any idea what happened between the two or even during Natasha and Hardik’s case but of course it’s the woman who is at fault. Oh and don’t forget the time when Anushka was blamed for Virat’s bad performances. Remember? So it’s always the woman who is to be blamed for the man’s action? These are grown men with fully functioning brains who know what they are doing.”
Uorfi gave the example of Hardik Pandya and Natasa Stanovic’s divorce, and how Natasa faced the brunt of the backlash. “In our minds, the cricketers are the heroes and they never do anything wrong. Is the cricketer not a sensible person? Couldn’t he tell if the girl had married him for the money”? said Uorfi. The host also added that a lot of times, the wives and girlfriends of cricketers are blamed for their poor performances.
Anushka Sharma often faces hate comments online whenever Virat Kohli struggles on the field. Similarly, during Hardik Pandya and Natasa Stankovic’s divorce rumors, Natasa received heavy public backlash on social media.
