“It is very disheartening to be continuously left out”: Punam Raut expresses disappointment after getting dropped from team India squad for 2022 Women’s World Cup

Punam Raut expresses disappointment after India selection snub for the upcoming ICC Women’s World Cup 2022 in New Zealand.

BCCI’s selection committee led by chief selector Neetu David have come under the scanner ever since they have announced an 18-member Team India squad on Thursday for the upcoming 5-match ODI series versus New Zealand followed by the 2022 ICC World Cup.

While the likes of Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur would continue to lead the side as captain and vice-captain respectively, the exclusion of the experienced duo of Shikha Pandey and Punam Raut and the young right-handed batter Jemimah Rodrigues have raised quite a many eyebrows.

The fact that all of the aforementioned selection and exclusion decisions have been taken in the absence of a press conference, is the biggest talking point and which has invited the ire of Indian women’s Cricket fans.

Lead selector Neetu David later in the day maintained her unaccountable stand commenting that she can’t speak anything on the issue.

“Right now we are not allowed to speak,” David told UNI after being asked about the controversial selection.

Punam Raut expresses disappointment

Post her selection snub from the squad, team India’s top order batter Punam Raut took to her Twitter handle to express her disappointment on the same.

Expressing her displeasure, Raut was of the view that despite being an experienced and consistent performer for the team in the 50-Over format, her exclusion from the 19-member squad is something that is simply not sitting down well with her, and that she is disappointment to say the least.

She even mentioned her stellar stats in the 50-Over format this year, as a possible claim to perhaps the injustice meted out to her.

pic.twitter.com/YRbulM07P7

— Punam Raut (@raut_punam) January 6, 2022

The 32-year-old was India’s highest run-scorer during the 5-match ODI series against South Africa at home in March 2021, amassing 263 runs in 5 innings at an average of 87.67.

She then played a solitary ODI during India’s tour of England in June in which she returned with a score of 32 (61) and was then dropped from the next two One-Dayers. She also did not feature in the playing 11 in any of the 3 ODIs during India’s following tour of Australia in September-October.

Finally, she was part of the 20-player group that took part in a boot camp in Dehradun last month, before getting dropped from the World Cup squad on Thursday.

India squad for 5 ODIs against NZ & ICC Women’s World Cup, 2022: Mithali Raj (Captain), Harmanpreet Kaur (vice-captain), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Richa Ghosh (wicket-keeper), Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Jhulan Goswami, Renuka Singh Thakur, Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Taniya Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav.