Mumbai: The drama surrounding Mithali Raj has taken another twist with head coach Ramesh Powar revealing the player had threatened to pull out of the Women’s World T20 and announce her retirement in case she was not allowed to open. Powar has also said that Raj, who is India’s ODI captain, should stop “blackmailing and pressurising” coaches and putting her interests ahead of the team’s.
These revelations are part of the coach’s hard-hitting appraisal of India’s performance in the Caribbean, where they lost in the semi-final against England. Raj was omitted from that match, triggering the controversy. On Wednesday, Powar met BCCI CEO Rahul Johri and the board’s head of cricket operations Saba Karim before e-mailing his final report to the pair.
It was as explosive as the letter Raj herself had sent to Johri and Karim this week accusing the coach of “humiliating” her and threatening to “destroy” her career.
In his defence, Powar, who took charge as interim coach, replacing Tushar Arothe, in July, has blamed Raj for manipulating the coaching staff to suit herself at the expense of the team. “I hope Mithali Raj stops blackmailing, pressurising coaches & also stops putting her interest first than team’s,” he wrote in his report, accessed by ESPNcricinfo. “I hope she will look at the bigger picture & work towards betterment of the Indian women’s cricket.”
According to Powar, Raj issued her initial threat to retire and return home on the eve of India’s second group match, against Pakistan. She had not batted in the tournament opener, against New Zealand, during which India posted the highest total in the World T20. She had already been told she would bat in the middle order.
Powar explained the reason behind pushing Raj, predominantly an opener, down the order was because she had struggled to score quickly in the practice games that were played on slow and low pitches. “Intent was missing. Could not lean and execute shots due to limited ability in skills & fitness,” he wrote in his report.
Keeping in mind that scoring against spin would be difficult, especially after the ball loses its hardness, India’s batsmen were told to capitalise on the Powerplay. According to Powar, Raj had agreed to the plan, which he said was “logical”. “Mithali’s lack of intent to score quickly in practice games prompted us to open with Taniya Bhatiya who always showed intent every time she batted . We used Taniya and D Hemalatha in Powerplay vs New Zealand which got us 24 runs in 13 balls. It’s not always about individual milestones, it’s always about team strategies and executions.”
