Stating that she feels bad that cricket gets all the attention in India, Olympic medal-winning shuttler Saina Nehwal said badminton, basketball, tennis and other sports are tougher physically than cricket.

Saina’s comments come after the Indian cricket team recently won the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in Bridgetown, Barbados. Following this, there were huge celebrations in India by fans, and politicians including Prime Minister Narendra Modi had hailed the Rohit Sharma-led team for their achievement.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced a reward of Rs 125 crore for the team while the Maharashtra government said it will honour the players with Rs 11 crore.

Saina, who won a bronze medal in badminton women’s singles at the London Olympics in 2012, said it feels like a dream for her to perform consistently for the country where there is no sporting culture. She was the first badminton player for India to win a medal in Olympics.

“Everyone wants to know what Saina is doing, what wrestlers and boxers are doing, what Neeraj Chopra is doing. Everyone knows these sportspersons, because we have consistently performed and we have been on the newspapers. I did that, I feel it’s like a dream that I did it in India, where there isn’t even a sporting culture,” Saina said on the Nikhil Simha podcast.

Talking about cricket getting all the attention in India, Saina said, “Sometimes, I feel bad that cricket gets all the attention. The thing about cricket is… if you see badminton, basketball, tennis, and other sports are so tough physically. You don’t even have time to pick up the shuttle and serve, you are like… you are breathing so hard. A game like cricket gets so much attention where I personally believe skill is more important.”

“Even if I say bad things about cricket, cricket will be there, because it is loved by everyone. I love it, but you have to also give that kind of attention to other sports, otherwise, how will India become a sporting nation and how will we compete to beat China to win 60 Olympic medals? There’s no way, it will always be cricket,” she added.

Meanwhile, reacting to Saina’s remarks, cricketer Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who plays for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), mocked her by asking to face Jasprit Bumrah’s deliveries bowled at 150 kilometres per hour. However, he deleted the post from his X (formerly Twitter) account and apologised.

“Let’s see how she goes when Bumrah bowls 150k’s bumpers at her head,” Raghuvanshi wrote on X.

Later, after deleting post, he said on the same social media platform, “I’m sorry everyone, I meant my remarks as a joke, looking back I think it was a really immature joke. I realize my mistake and I sincerely apologize.”