Tennis ace Sania Mirza, wife of Pakistan cricket team skipper Shoaib Malik, opened about her famous “Joru ka Ghulaam” tweet while talking to Indian women cricketers Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues in the latest episode of ‘Double Trouble’.
Sania had posted the tweet ahead of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup final, played between hosts Australia and India, in March this year. Her tweet praised Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc, who missed an ODI match against South Africa and flew home to see his wife Alyssa Healy in action at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
“Sure thing !! God forbid it would be a guy from the subcontinent, the guy would be called a ‘joru ka ghulaam’ in one second good on you Mitchell couple goals for sure!!,” Sania had tweeted.
Sure thing !! God forbid it would be a guy from the subcontinent, the guy would be called a ‘joru ka ghulaam’ in one second 😅 good on you Mitchell 👍🏽 couple goals for sure!! #beentheredonethat 🤣 https://t.co/yl3ZlGFPkY
— Sania Mirza (@MirzaSania) March 7, 2020
While praising Starc, Sania also questioned the mindset of people who blame cricketers’ wives if they fail to perform.
When asked about her famous tweet, Sania said she and Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma, wife of Team India Virat Kohli, have faced this situation on numerous occasions which is hard to comprehend.
“It was funny because me and Anushka probably relate to this the most. Because I think that whenever our husbands perform, it’s because of them, whenever they don’t perform, it’s because of us. I don’t know how that works,” she said.
Sania further said that the phenomenon points to a deeper cultural issue.
“We are saying it as a joke, but I think there is a much deeper issue. The deeper issue is that a woman can always be a distraction and not a strength. That’s a cultural issue we sort of have to Oh ‘if your girlfriend is there or your wife is there; he must be distracted because he is going out for dinner’. That doesn’t even make any sense, Like what sense can that make?” she added.
Highlighting how people would have reacted if her husband would have to come to watch one of her tennis matches and support her from the stands, Sania said: “Hell would have broken loose”.
“When he (Starc) went back to his wife to watch the World Cup final, and everybody was hailing him. I truly felt… I was trying to just picture Shoaib do that for me… hell would have broken loose if that would have happened. They would have said… he is such a ‘joru ka ghulaam’… ‘Oh…my god he is going and watching a women’s cricket match’. I just felt it. I feel humour also sometimes brings out the truth in many things” she added further.
Sania also said that she and Anushka agreed to each other’s words when they discussed at length how people would have reacted had their husbands come to support them.
“Anushka and I had a long conversation about it afterwards. We both were like, oh my goodness… this is so true. Imagine if our husbands do it,” Sania, winner of six Grand Slam titles, concluded.
