Well done Mithali Raj for speaking out against the bias shown towards you by petty minded officials and a coach who was an ordinary cricketer in his playing days!
Imagine dropping Virat Kohli for a crucial World Cup decider. That’s what happened with Raj at the Women’s T20 World Cup in the Caribbean.
Understandable, if she was not in form. But she had two back-to-back 50s and was Player of the Match too. This is shocking to say the least. How can any team do that for a crucial match that would have got India into the final and even brought World Cup glory?
India fluffed big time just because of the stupidity of a few.
Raj has made it very clear in her letter to the Board of Control for Cricket in India that it was coach Ramesh Powar, BCCI operations overseer Committee of Administrators (CoA) member Diana Edulji and to an extent captain Harmanpreet Kaur as the people who took the decision to drop her.
Sadly, politics has once again reared its ugly head in the country’s sport. Nothing short of sacking those involved will clear the air.
Edulji, a champion player in her day, was involved in this monstrous decision proves how steeped in politics Indian sport is. Her actions must be probed. She was appointed to supervise the BCCI decisions and instead she was involved in the biggest scandal in women’s cricket.
Dump Powar at the earliest. He showed no respect to a great player like Raj who has many records to her name. What right does he have to ignore Raj? And who is he to decide where Raj should bat when she did well as an opener?
Harmanpreet had won the hearts of the cricket fans by her wonderful strokeplay in the World Cup last year and the subsequent matches.
She was made captain of the Indian team but unfortunately she goofed up by supporting the axing of Raj.
She could have taken a stand when the decision was announced. Unfortunately she went with it. She too must be held to account.
This could a precedent to many other controversies if it is not nipped in the bud. This is a start of something which has eaten into the fabric of Indian sport from a long time.
We have destroyed hockey, athletics and other sports through politics, bias, favouritism, nepotism and regionalism. Many top players have languished due to it and many have got discouraged by it.
India’s women cricketers, like other women sportspersons, have improved by leaps and bounds in the last few years.
If this cancer grows we would look foolish as we do in some politically-infested sports.
Raj must not leave this issue now that she has taken it up. The BCCI is more interested in raking in the moolahs than paying attention to the players.
The dropping of Karun Nair without giving him a chance in England and then ignoring him for the Australian tour is a great example of how the selectors work. There are no explanations forthcoming there.
Raj must not compromise until she gets a satisfactory explanation and action taken against the perpetrators of her exclusion.
The players are the ones who toil in the sun to bring glory to the country. Give them their due. Don’t make them sacrificial lambs at the altar of petty politics.
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#All views expressed in this column are those of the author and Pune365 does not necessarily subscribe to the same,
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