The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) for BCCI has denied reports that it had requested the Indian team management for fitness logs for veteran player Mithali Raj after she was snubbed from the playing XI of ICC Women’s World Twenty20 semi-final against England.
Diana Edulji, the former India Women’s captain and one of the CoA members, told CricketNext that the committee has not asked for the fitness logs. She also denied reports that the CoA will meet Mithali, Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur and manager Trupti Bhattacharya. She said that the BCCI General Manager Saba Karim will meet them.
India's decision to drop Mithali for the all-important semi-final against England came under the scanner after they suffered an eight-wicket defeat in Antigua on Thursday (November 22). Mithali had batted twice in the tournament, registering the scores of 56 and 51 against Pakistan and Ireland respectively. Her experience might have come handy on a slow pitch in Antigua, where India got bundled out on 112. England chased down the paltry target with 2.5 overs to spare.
According to a report in the Times of India, based on the manager’s report that was leaked to the newspaper, the decision to stick with the same XI that emerged victorious against Australia in the team’s final group game, where Mithali didn’t play due to a niggle, was taken in the presence of the national selector Sudha Shah.
“I, as manager, convened the meeting. They (captain, coach and selector) discussed the wicket and the coach expressed that the same winning combination against Australia should play,” read team manager Trupti Bhattacharya’s report. “Harman and Smriti shared the same view and also told the selector, Sudha Shah, that an extra bowler would help the team. Sudha Shah agreed to the XI and did not express anything.”
The news of Mithali’s exclusion did not go down well with her manager Annisha Gupta, who lambasted Harmanpreet Kaur and the Indian think tank on Twitter.
“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, soon after India were knocked out of the Women’s World T20.
Although Gupta removed her tweets soon after posting them, she didn’t entirely regret putting them out in the open.
“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,” she told ESPNCricinfo.
“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.
"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."
After the match, Harmanpreet had said that she had no regrets over the decision to drop Mithali for the tie against the 50-over world champions.
"Whatever we had decided, we decided for the team. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but no regrets," Harmanpreet told reporters after the match.
"Sometimes you have to change your game according to the wicket. England bowled well, they read the wicket really well. Credit goes to them, we've learned a lot from this game. It was not an easy total to chase, and our bowlers bowled really well to stretch the match till the 18th over," she added.
(With CricketNext inputs)
