Published: Nov 26, 2018, 10:01 AM (IST)
Edited: Nov 26, 2018, 10:01 AM (IST)
Diana Edulji, the former India Women’s captain and one half of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), has denied requesting the current Indian team management for its fitness logs for veteran Mithali Raj after she was benched for the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 semi-final against England Women in Antigua on Friday – a decision that has raised eyebrows as the team was beaten by eight wickets to crash out of the tournament following five unbeaten matches in a row.
ALSO READ: India dropping Mithali Raj – a bold move or bad decision?
Reports in the Indian media Sunday suggested that the CoA would call on India Women’s captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Mithali to discuss the matter of the latter’s exclusion from the team’s lineup for Friday’s World T20 semi-final. It was also reported that India team manager Trupti Bhattacharya’s report on a meeting between Harmanpreet, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana, coach Romesh Powar and selector Sudha Shah was leaked.
“The CoA has not asked for Mithali’s logs,” Edulji told CricketCountry on Monday, also stating that the CoA will not be meeting Mithali, Harmanpreet and Bhattacharya, but that the BCCI General Manager Saba Karim would.
ALSO READ: Revealed: How India captain, coach and selector arrived at the decision to bench Mithali Raj
India stuck with the same XI that beat Australia in their last league match, dropping Mithali who scored back-to-back fifties. The decision polarised opinion among former players, while Mithali’s manager Annisha Gupta lashed out at the Indian team management by calling Harmanpreet “a manipulative, lying cheat” and an “undeserving captain”.
According to The Times of India, Bhattacharya’s minutes reportedly stated: “I, as manager, convened the meeting. They (captain, coach and selector) discussed the wicket and the coach expressed that the same winning combination against Australia should play. Harman and Smriti shared the same view and also told the selector, Sudha Shah, that an extra bowler would help the team.”
Mithali’s ODI team-mate Jhulan Goswami said she felt sad to see the veteran sit out the World T20 semi-final, while Sourav Ganguly said it did not surprise him.
Mithali, the veteran of 85 ODIs which fetched her 2283 runs at 37.42 with 17 fifties, scored 56 and 51 in India’s wins over Pakistan Women and Ireland Women before she was rested for the last league match against Australia Women, which India won by 48 runs to top their group. She is also India’s all-time leading run-scorer in T20Is.
