Mithali Raj’s manager criticizes Harmanpreet Kaur

Mithali Raj’s manager criticizes Harmanpreet Kaur: Former India captain’s manager has stirred a new controversy.

Post India’s exit from the ICC Women’s World T20 at North Sound, former captain Mithali Raj’s manager Annisha Gupta has stirred a new controversy, criticizing the current captain Harmanpreet Kaur for being a “manipulative, lying, immature, undeserving captain.”

Gupta’s comments came after the Indian team opted to continue with the ‘winning combination’ during their semi-final match against England. Apparently, the 35-year old Raj wasn’t part of the match for she was rested ahead of India’s league match against Australia.

She took to social media platform Twitter to express her being at odds with Kaur. “Unfortunately @BCCIWomen believes in politics not sport. After witnessing what @M_Raj03 ‘s experience could do in IndvIre it’s shocking that they went with what pleases @ImHarmanpreet -a manipulative, lying, immature, undeserving captain,” Gupta’s tweet read.

While the unverified Twitter account has been deleted now, Gupta confirmed it to ESPNcricinfo that the account belonged to her. Defending her statement, she said that a lot of ‘favouritism’ is being shown in the current Indian side.

“I’d like to say that I don’t know what is going on on the inside but, now that the matches are being telecast, we can see who is performing and who is not. And we can see the kind of treatment that Mithali has received despite her brilliant performance and despite showing stability and consistency.

“The kind of treatment she has received is completely uncalled for and there is something deeper than we need to look at than just the statements that have been coming out,” Gupta was quoted as saying to ESPNcricinfo.

She agreed that the youngsters were to be given a chance but at the cost of dropping the senior-most player in such a match didn’t seem to go well with her. “There are statements coming out that they wanted to give younger cricketers a chance but you don’t drop your senior-most, most experienced players in a semi-final against a country like England. It goes beyond giving the youngsters a chance,” Gupta added.

“Maybe I was a little angry but I think it comes from the right place because I don’t stand for unfair treatment. The kind of favouritism that has been shown is very apparent. I think everybody can see the kind of favouritism that is being shown to certain members of the team,” she further added.

“We were going with a winning combination. We did really well against Australia. And that is the reason we just wanted to go with the same combination,” Kaur was quoted as saying post the loss against England.

The decision to drop Raj hadn’t gone well with fans on social media and some former cricketers. There were numerous opinions regarding playing Raj in a crucial match like a semi-final and that also when it was being played on a ‘difficult’ wicket. Read some of them below: