Mithali Raj”s exclusion from semi-finals against England has been criticized by several cricket experts around the world. Even skipper Harmanpreet had a bad remark on the social media as she said that there were no regrets for dropping the former as she didn”t wish to alter the winning combination.
For the first time, Mithali spoke her heart through a mail to the BCCI officials. It is to be noted that Kaur and Mithali have already met the BCCI officials including Rahul Johri to put forward their grievances in person. In her mail, she had made clear that she has no rifts with the present skipper Harmanpreet Kaur but wasn”t satisfied with coach Ramesh Powar.
Mithali clearly stated that Ramesh showed no interest in her inclusion after the match against Australia. She also said that he hardly replied to any of her texts. A depressed Mithali also expressed that her intention was to always giver her best for the side but this has been the first time when she was left humiliated by the coach.
Mithali said that she was never ever comfortable working with Ramesh Powar and gave few instances for the same. She was also shocked when Powar asked her to stay away from the team after an emphatic victory against the champions Australia as she didn”t feature in the game.
“My issues with the coach started immediately as we landed in the West Indies. At first, there were small signs that his behaviour towards me was unfair and discriminatory. It was worrying and insulting because the coach was out to destroy and humiliate me, I couldn”t control my tears having given it my all for 20 years. It seemed my efforts had no value, ” a depressed Mithali mentioned in the mail.
Not just the coach, Mithali also took a dig against Diana Edulji, member of Committee of Administrators who hadn”t supported her for the snub. “To put things in perspective, I have always reposed faith in Diana Edulji and have always respected her and her position as a member of the CoA. Never did I think she will use her position against me, more after hearing what all I had to go through in the Caribbean as I had spoken to her about it,” Mithali mentioned in the email.
Sourav Ganguly, the former skipper of the Indian side already mentioned in an interview that these incidents take him back to ill-fated Greg Chappell era when he was dropped from the side at a peak form of his career. Mithali, the leading run scorer for the Indian side in T20I”s and overall leading scorer in women ODI”s has been the talk of the town after the semi-final loss and with this mail, she has certainly spoken her heart out.
Mithali said that she also seeks for justice from the officials for all the incidents that have taken place at Caribbean islands and it will be interesting how the BCCI would approach this tricky situation. A huge fan base has been backing Mithali in the social media to give her a meaningful reply for the injustice happened to her. Further details regarding the same are awaited.