Mithali’s manager calls Harmanpreet a liar
8.00pm onwards: Live on Sony ESPN & HD 7.00pm: Bournemouth v Arsenal, 9.30pm: Wolves v Huddersfield; live, Star Sports Select 1 & SHD 1 7.30pm: Jamshedpur v Chennaiyin; live on Star Sports 1 & HD1 2.00pm: Real Kashmir v Arrows, 5.00pm: Mohun Bagan v Churchill; live on Star Sports 3 6.30pm: Abu Dhabi GP main race; live on Star Sports Select 2 & SHD 2 MUMBAI : India’s heavy defeat in the Women’s World Twenty20 semi-finals has sparked questions over team harmony with the benching of star player Mithali Raj exposing the fissures.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and coach Ramesh Powar have come under fire from experts for omitting India’s leading run-getter when her experience could have proved crucial in a highpressure game against a strong England. India lost by eight wickets in Antigua on Thursday after a sensational batting collapse.
It’s learnt the team management wanted Mithali to bat at No 4 but she insisted on her usual position of opener, which was one of the reasons she was benched.
“The team management told Mithali to bat at 4 for the semi-final, but the ODI skipper didn’t want to compromise with her bat- ting slot at the top of the order, which did not fit with the team combination,” a highly-placed source told this paper.
The source said before the semi-final, the team management and skipper had spoken to Mithali. A Whatsapp message to Mithali seeking her reaction elicited no response.
Harmanpreet told the postmatch press conference that she didn’t regret dropping Mithali. “We were going with a winning combination. We did really well against Australia. That is the reason we wanted to go with the same combination,” she said.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India is expected to summon Harmanpreet, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana and coach Ramesh Powar to understand the entire episode. Team manager Trupti Bhattacharya’s report will be crucial.
A few senior people are also angry with Mithali’s manager Annisha Gupta attacking the skipper on twitter. Annisha posted tweets on her timeline on Friday calling Kaur a ‘manipulative, lying, immature, undeserving captain’ besides accusing the team of playing politics.
“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 tweeted.
Though she later deleted her account, an Espncricinfo report said she admitted the unverified account and the tweets were hers. “I’d like to say I don’t know what is going on the inside but now that the matches are being telecast, we can see who is performing and who is not,” Annisha was quoted as saying.
“And we can see the kind of treatment Mithali has received despite her brilliant performance and despite showing stability and consistency. The kind of treatment she has received is completely uncalled for and there is something deeper that 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.”
Mithali is India’s most prolific scorer in WT20I with 2283 runs from 85 games (average 37.42). Her average is the best among Indians. This year’s strike rate of 105.89 though is seen as slow.