Former Indian women's cricket team head coach WV Raman believes too much has been made of his sacking as he urged the cricketing fraternity to stop talking about his exit while saying he has enjoyed his stint with the female cricketers for nearly three years.
The BCCI didn’t retain Raman as India Women coach, instead re-appointed former Indian off-spinner Ramesh Powar despite producing decent results with the women's team since taking charge in December 2018. Raman took the charge after Powar’s controversial exit as head coach in 2018.
Well, the BCCI and its Cricket Advisory Committee's decision to replace Raman with Powar didn’t go down well with many given his performance with several experts and fans criticizing and questioning the decision, although, the former coach has no grudges for not being given an extension.
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He further said there are talks about his sacking because people have recognized some good things during his tenure as India women’s coach, but said it needs to be stopped now as he wants the girls to focus on the upcoming multi-format tour of England next month.
Raman told Sports Today: “I thoroughly enjoyed my tenure with the girls. I think there is too much being made out of this exit bit. When I was a player there used to be a group of people selecting the side, sometimes they picked you, and sometimes they didn't. I don't really see why this has been going on for too long.”
He further added, “Yes, momentarily people could have spoken about it (BCCI replacing him with Romesh Powar). That means people have recognized some good things that happened during my tenure but that should end there. Everybody should say okay, the time has come for the girls to get on with it.
They are embarking on a very long and important tour because England is one of the toughest sides you can get in international cricket. They have the firepower in the batting and bowling departments, they are extremely good at what they do.”
Powar has been appointed as the coach of the women’s team despite controversial fallout with the Test and ODI captain Mithali Raj who blamed him for trying to destroy her career.
Reacting to the same, Raman said: “This is exactly what I was telling the girls also when I took over (in 2018) and the controversy erupted, for whatever reasons. It was just being kept up in there and churned without any sort of restraint. It is something that the entire team should forget and get on with it.”
He signed off by saying, “Even though I might be in the eye of the storm now, whether I want it (the coaching job) or not, I think it should stop now and the team should get on with it. That is where the first step lies, making plans for the World Cup and forget everything that has happened in the past.”
