Published: Nov 27, 2018, 04:10 PM (IST)
Edited: Nov 27, 2018, 04:10 PM (IST)
Reacting to her being left out of the ICC Women’s World T20 semi-final match against England, Mithali Raj in a letter to the BCCI has stated that she was humiliated by coach Ramesh Powar and “few people in power are out to destroy me”. Mithali also accused CoA member Diana Edulji of bias in the letter.
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“For the first time in a 20 year long career, I felt deflated, depressed and let down. I am forced to think if my services to my country are of any value to a few people in power who are out to destroy me and break my confidence,” she wrote in a letter to BCCI CEO Rahul Johri and Cricket Operations GM Saba Karim.
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“To put things in perspective, I have always reposed faith in Diana Edulji and have always respected her and her position as a member of the COA, Never did I think she will use her position against me, more after hearing what all I had to go through in the Caribbean as I had spoken to her about it,” wrote Mithali.
“Her brazen support in the press with regard to the decision of my benching in the semifinal of the T20 World Cup has left me deeply distressed, more because she knows the real facts having spoken to me.”
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On Powar, she narrated a series of instances where she felt slighted by the coach.
“For instance, walking off if I am sitting anywhere around, watching in the nets when others bat but choosing to walk away when I am batting in nets, if I try to go up to him to talk to start looking into his phone and keep walking.
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“It was embarrassing and very evident to everyone that I was being humiliated. Yet I never lost my cool,” she said.
Mithali, who had missed the last pool game against eventual champions Australia as she was recovering from a knee injury, was available for the crucial game against England. In the two innings Mithali played in the tournament, she scored 51 and 56, against Ireland and Pakistan respectively.
Harmanpreet defended the decision to keep Mithali out of the eleven, saying “whatever we decided, we decided for the team”. However, she was slammed by the latter’s manager Annisha Gupta, who claimed that the 35-year-old was a victim of politics and favouritism.
Edulji, the former India Women’s captain and one half of the Supreme Court-appointed (CoA), had denied requesting the current Indian team management for its fitness logs for veteran Mithali after she was benched for the semi-final.
