The row over Mithali Raj\u2019s exclusion from the ICC Women\u2019s World T20 semifinal versus England refuses to die down with two senior players of the team openly backing Ramesh Powar to get an extension as head coach.<\/p>\n
The former India off-spinner\u2019s contract as caretaker coach expired last week after just a three month-long tenure, and the BCCI has invited applications from eligible candidates for the job on a permanent basis. Mithali had written to the Board of Control for Cricket in India alleging that Powar discriminated against her and left her \u201cdeflated, depressed and let down\u201d culminating in her omission from the semifinal against England in St. Lucia.<\/p>\n
Powar, in his report to the Board, alleged that the veteran indulged in \u201cblackmailing and pressurising\u201d coaches. The BCCI, had the option of extending his contract for a year but it didn\u2019t go down that route.<\/p>\n
However, T20 skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and her deputy Smriti Mandhana have openly come out in Powar\u2019s support, arguing that another change at the helm was not in the team\u2019s interest.<\/p>\n
Claiming that Mithali\u2019s omission from the semifinal was a decision taken jointly by the coach, captain, vice-captain and selector on tour and entirely for cricketing reasons, Harmanpreet commended Powar for taking the team forward in a short time.<\/p>\n
\u201cSir Ramesh Powar not only improved us as players but did motivate us to set targets and challenge our own limits. He has changed the face of Indian women\u2019s cricket team both technically and strategically. He has inculcated in us the sense of winning,\u201d she wrote in a mail to the Board.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe, along with the support staff, has boosted our confidence as a team which helped us win 14 consecutive T20 matches before semifinals. Ramesh sir has changed the intent of players and given everyone confidence to express their selves on the field to their fullest. His one-to-one connect with each player has led to clarity in roles for all players and made everyone believe that they are match winner in his short tenure with the team,\u201d she wrote in her email.<\/p>\n
Both players argued that with other major tournaments and tours coming up, it was not the right time for a new coach to take over.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince we are merely a month away from the New Zealand series and hardly 15 months from the next T20 World Cup in Australia, his guidance and inputs will be helpful for the team to perform well. It is important for Indian cricket\u2019s growth that everybody is on the same page,\u201d Smriti added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way he has transformed us as a team, I feel no reason to replace him with any better at this point of time when the team is coordinating well with him and amongst each other. It takes a while to understand and select combinations and equate with a coach\u2019s temperament. Another change of coach will affect our growth and we will have to start from scratch,\u201d Harmanpreet reasoned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The row over Mithali Raj\u2019s exclusion from the ICC Women\u2019s World T20 semifinal versus England refuses to die down with two senior players […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49129,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49128"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49130,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49128\/revisions\/49130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}