Former Australia Women's captain and well-known commentator Lisa Sthalekar has lashed out at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the treatment given to the Indian women's cricketer Veda Krishnamurthy who recently lost her sister and mother due to COVID-19.

Veda, a contracted player with the BCCI, lost her elder sister Vatsala Shivakumar to COVID-19 last week two weeks after she lost her mother to the dreaded virus last month.

On Friday (May 14), BCCI announced the Test, ODI and T20I squad for India Women’s tour of England next month, and the 28-year-old flamboyant batter was not included in the team. Sthalekar, ICC Hall of Fame winner, was convinced with her non-selection given her recent loss.

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But the Indian-born cricketer wasn’t happy with the BCCI the way handled the matter, as they neither communicated with Veda about her exclusion from the England tour nor checked at all to see how she is coping with the twin losses, which left her disappointed.

Sthalekar wrote a note on Twitter, “Whilst not selecting Veda for the upcoming series may be justified from their point of view, what angers me the most is that as a contracted player she has not received a communication from the BCCI, just to even check how she is coping. A true association must deeply care about its players and not focus solely on just the game at any cost. So disappointed.”

She also called for a player’s association in India while highlighting how the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) takes care of its players.

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The commentator added, “As a past player the ACA has reached out daily to see how we are and provided all kinds of service. If there was a need for player association in India it is surely now.”

The 41-year-old also stressed on the need to take care of the players more in the COVID-19 era with the pandemic wreaking havoc across the world.

Sthalekar signed off by saying, “The stress, anxiety, fear, and grief that many players have experienced through this pandemic will take its toll on them as individuals and inadvertently affect the game.”