Regarding Raj's controversial dropping from the semi-final against England, Kaur reiterated that it was a unanimous decision of the team management to go with the winning combination that had beaten Australia convincingly
India T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur (left) and Ramesh Powar. Pic/Suresh Karkera
On a day when Mithali Raj turned 36, the Indian women's team's T20I skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and her deputy Smriti Mandhana chose to extend support to Ramesh Powar, appealing for his contract extension till the next T20 World Cup.
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Raj had accused Powar of destroying her career and being biased in an email to the BCCI recently after the Indian team crashed out of the World T20 in the Caribbean. Powar, in his reply, said that the veteran batswoman threatened to quit from the World T20 if not allowed to open the innings and this created chaos in the team.
After Powar's interim contract ended on November 30, the BCCI invited applications for the chief coach's post. Yesterday, Kaur and Mandhana shot an email to the Committee of Administrators (CoA), the BCCI's acting office bearers, BCCI CEO Rahul Johri and General Manager Syed Saba Karim. It is learnt that Kaur in her email wrote about how the team underwent, "positive changes in the past few months."
"Our defeat in the semi-finals was very disheartening and it brings us all to feel more miserable to see how the controversies (sic) has stained our image and questioned the entire cricket fraternity. Sir Ramesh Powar not only improved us as players but did motivate us to set targets and challenge our own limits. He has changed the faced (sic) of [the] Indian women's cricket team both technically and strategically. He has inculcated in us the sense of winning," she wrote.
Regarding Raj's controversial dropping from the semi-final against England, Kaur reiterated that it was a unanimous decision of the team management to go with the winning combination that had beaten Australia convincingly.
Kaur appealed to the BCCI to allow Powar to continue. "Cutting the conversation short, I, as the T20 captain and ODI vice-captain, is appealing before you to allow Powar to further continue as our team coach. There are hardly 15 months for the next T20 World Cup and a month to go for the New Zealand tour. The way he has transformed us as a team, I feel no reason to replace him," she said.
Mandhana in her email said that Powar-Raj issue could be amicably solved. "It is important for Indian cricket's growth that everybody is on the same page and I believe that any difference can be amicably resolved via discussion," Mandhana said.
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