Mithali Raj’s exclusion from the Indian squad in the semi-final of Women’s World T20 against England shocked one and all and now her manager Annisha Gupta has directed harsh words at India captain Harmanpreet Kaur.
Mithali Raj had been in brilliant form — scoring two half centuries and winning two player-of-the-match awards in the two matches she batted in. Mithali had not played India’s final group match against Australia, which they won by a massive 48 runs, because she was unwell.
Her omission on Friday though happened because the Indian team management and Harmanpreet wanted to stick with the “winning combination”.
However, it turned out to be anything but that as India were bundled out for a mere 112 runs and England easily chased it down to win the match by eight wickets and set up a final against Australia.
Fans had taken to social media to raise serious questions on the thought process behind the move but Mithali’s manager Annisha had bitter words to throw at Harmanpreet.
“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,” Annisha tweeted.
In another tweeted, she labelled Harmanpreet as “manipulative, lying, cheat”.
However, Annisha’s account on Twitter by the handle ‘@annishasays’ has now been deleted.
Annisha though confirmed to ESPNCricinfo that the tweets had been done by her and shot words at the management once more by saying “now that the matches are being telecast, we can see who is performing and who is not”.
“I’d like to say that I don’t know what is going on on the inside but, now that the matches are being telecast, we can see who is performing and who is not,” Annisha has been quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.
“And we can see the kind of treatment that 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 than 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.”
Harmanpreet, after the match, had said that she did not regret dropping Mithali from the team and she was proud of the way the girls played in the tournament.
“Whatever we decided, we decided for the team. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, no regrets. I’m proud of the way my girls played through the tournament. This is a learning curve for us because we are a young team,” Harmanpreet said at the post match presentation ceremony.
Annisha did accept that she was extremely angry and perhaps that’s why she tweeted the way she did but she stuck to saying “it comes from the right place”.
“Maybe I was a little angry but I think it comes from the right place because I don’t stand for unfair treatment. The kind of favouritism that has been shown is very apparent. I think everybody can see the kind of favouritism that is being shown to certain members of the team.”
Even former player Sanjay Manjrekar and various fans had said that India missed the experience of Mithali Raj on the big stage on Friday and on a slow pitch like that, having Mithali in the team would have been a big advantage.
“It’s not a pitch where you can hit through the line and fetch boundaries. Mithali Raj would have been ideal on this pitch. Wrong move by India to drop Mithali,” Sanjay Manjrekar had tweeted.
