Pietermaritzburg-based Gabriella Pasqualotto was told to pack her bags and return home from the Indian Premier League, where she was one of about 40 South African women working as cheerleaders.
News24 reported that there were complaints about Pasqualotto’s blogging – she is currently making the headlines on Twitter and the web – with an Australian player saying that her comments were distracting the team from their job.
Pasqualotto, a cheerleader with the glamorous Mumbai Indians, was blogging about what went on behind the scenes at the highly lucrative 20 over series. One minute she was a high flyer, attending swanky post match soirees and entertaining huge crowds with sultry dance moves, the next she was being bundled on to the first available flight to South Africa out of Mumbai.
She told the Witness she was angry and disappointed at the way she was treated by the IPL: “On Tuesday last week I was sent home as if I was a criminal. I was treated as if I had done drugs or done something awful, and I was never offered an opportunity to tell my side of the story.”
She said: “One day I am treated like a mini celebrity. People think you are like handmaidens to the ‘cricket gods’, and then I am thrown out for a silly blog.”
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