Every time Harmanpreet Kaur, the 36-year-old all-rounder from Moga, Punjab, steps into her chosen battleground—the cricket ground—she enters and stakes claim to a space created for men, by men, with language that excludes the Indian skipper and the team she leads solely because of their feminine gender. Long known as a gentleman’s—as opposed to a “ladies’”—game, cricket traditions have carried deep-rooted sexism: for instance, the best player was awarded as “man of the match”, batters were called “batsmen” and a fielding position was named “third man” instead of, simply, third, as it is called today.