Mithali Raj’s letter to BCCI: Veteran India batswoman has lashed out at Ramesh Powar and Diana Edulji in an open letter.
Advertisement
The controversy regarding India’s Women cricket team’s loss in the semi-final of the recently concluded ICC Women’s World T20 doesn’t seem to come to a standstill. Former India captain Mithali Raj’s open letter to the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) has added to the whole matter.
In her letter, Raj has said that coach Ramesh Powar ‘humiliated’ her and has accused member of CoA Diana Edulji of ‘bias’.
“For the first time in a 20 year long career, I felt deflated, depressed and let down. I am forced to think if my services to my country are of any value to a few people in power who are out to destroy me and break my confidence,” Raj wrote in a letter to BCCI CEO Rahul Johri and Cricket Operations GM Saba Karim.
Taking a dig at Edulji, Raj added that the member of CoA is ‘using her position against her’. “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. Her brazen support in the press with regard to the decision of my benching in the semifinal of the T20 World Cup has left me deeply distressed, more because she knows the real facts having spoken to me,” Raj had written.
Talking of Powar, Raj said that his actions during the world event ’embarrassed’ and ‘humiliated’ her. “For instance, walking off if I am sitting anywhere around, watching in the nets when others bat but choosing to walk away when I am batting in nets, if I try to go up to him to talk to start looking into his phone and keep walking. It was embarrassing and very evident to everyone that I was being humiliated. Yet I never lost my cool,” she said.
All of this started after the Indian team management decided to drop Raj from the all-important semi-final match in the World Cup, that too after she had scored a couple of half-centuries in the tournament. If reports are to be believed, captain Harmanpreet Kaur also met BCCI officials earlier. Kaur had defended her decision of dropping Raj, saying that she had no ‘regrets’.
However, Raj seems to have a different opinion on the same, which was evident from her statement on Raj in her letter. “I would also like to point out that I have nothing against the T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur except for the fact that her call to support the decision of the coach to leave me out of the eleven was baffling and hurtful. I wanted to win the world cup for my country and it hurts me because we lost a golden opportunity,” she added.
Read some of the latest Twitter reactions on the same below:
A storm is brewing….and it’s likely to get ugly #WomensCricket
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) November 27, 2018
This is shocking. Ramesh Powar tells @M_Raj03 she cant go to the stadium for the Aus game. Says she cant be part of the team huddle. Says how does it feel to be benched!! Is this man for real?????! @BCCI are you listening? Vinod Rai are you seeing this? Take action or leave.
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) November 27, 2018
Utterly shocking if true @BoriaMajumdar. Needs swift inquiry and redressal. Though baffled at @M_Raj03’s omission from the semis, I was not in favour of COA meddling in every aspect of the game. But this puts matters in an altogether different light https://t.co/0cLjfxVD0C
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) November 27, 2018
For the first time in a 20 year long career, I felt deflated, depressed and let down. I am forced to think if my services to my country are of any value to a few people in power who are out to destroy me and break my confidence: Mithali Raj in a letter to BCCI
— ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2018
