Former Indian women cricketer Mithali Raj on Monday (13th June) opened up about the feud with Ramesh Powar during the Women’s T20 World Cup in 2018. She said that the phase hurt her a bit and dealing with unfair means require courage.
Raj called time on her illustrious career, spanning almost 23 years, last week. The former Indian women’s team skipper found her name in almost every record book related to batting and she ended her career as the highest run-scorer in WODIs. She scored 7805 runs in 232 games at an average of 50.7 and also played 89 T20Is and 12 Tests, scoring 2364 and 699 runs respectively.
Not only did she achieve many milestones and enjoyed success, but she also was a part of a few controversies in her career. One of them was her fallout with head coach Powar during the 2018 T20 World Cup.
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Though not many details are known about what happened, Raj was dropped from the playing XI for the semi-final against England which the Indian women's team ended up losing. After the incident, a lot of things took place behind the doors and Powar eventually lost his job as the head coach of the Indian women's cricket team with WV Raman taking charge.
Speaking to India today, Mithali Raj opened up about the controversy during the Women’s T20 World Cup 2018. She said that it was difficult for her to think straight because many thoughts and emotions crossed her mind.
"When you find yourself in the middle of chaos, you can't really think straight because you are feeling all sorts of emotions, even if you want to internalise and think from your brain and not from your heart. It would still be like you are hurting, so you will probably never have clarity if you are in chaos," Mithali Raj said.
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Without going into details, Raj described the phase as rife with "hurt, anger, frustration and irritation", saying that instead of getting caught up in it, she had to "overcome" it for her own mental clarity. Once that was done, she added, and the form and control returned.
"I had to be in the best possible space in my mind to go out there and give my best. So, for me to be in that good mental space, I had to overcome or get through that moment of hurt, anger, frustration, irritation and eventually did, because I realised my purpose was not to be involved in that moment for long.
"The moment had to pass, that is what sport has taught me. In cricket, when you score a hundred, the next day you again have to start from the beginning, you don't start from a hundred. Obviously, that phase did hurt me a little bit but I overcame and that is why I was able to give the performance I did in the last year and half. I was able to overcome those emotions," she said.
Notably, Powar was again roped in as the head coach of the India women’s team in May 2021. He recently was also handed a two-year contract.
(India Today inputs)
