Mithali Raj benched: Report reveals how and why decision to drop her was made

Indian women's cricket team suffered a heartbreaking loss against England in the in the semifinal of the ICC Women’s World T20. While not much went India's way in that heavy 8-wicket loss, one of the biggest decisions taken by the team management has come under particular scrutiny. 

The decision to drop India's most senior player Mithali Raj has started a big debate.

Mithali, India's leading T20I run getter, had struck consecutive fifties in 2018 ICC Women’s World T20 tournament before being rested for India’s final group match against Australia.

In the semifinal, India went with the same side that played against Australia thus leaving Mithali on the bench. 

The Indian team management took the decision after observing how the pitch behaved during the first semifinal, according to a report in The Times of India. Australia had earlier beaten West Indies in the other semifinal on the same pitch. 

According to the TOI report, based on the manager’s report accessed by the newspaper after the game, captain Harmanpreet Kaur, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana, coach Romesh Powar and selector Sudha Rai met ahead of the match to pick the playing XI.

The report quoted team manager Trupti Bhattacharya’s report on the meeting as claiming that there was general consensus among the participants of the meeting on dropping Mithali. 

“I, as manager, convened the meeting. They (captain, coach and selector) discussed the wicket and the coach expressed that the same winning combination against Australia should play. Harman and Smriti shared the same view and also told the selector, Sudha Shah, that an extra bowler would help the team,” the news story sadi quoting the team manager's report.

The report further quoted a source as saying “the selector too was more a spectator here.” The story further added that coach Ramesh Powar, like the selector, also supported the decision made by Harmanpreet and didn’t voice any opposition to the move.

Many experts and fans questioned the logic behind not including Mithali Raj, India's most senior player, in the playing 11 for such a crucial match. 

Kaur, however, defended her tactics saying she had “no regrets” as the decision was taken keeping team’s interests in mind. 

“It’s not about not selecting Mithali, it’s about keeping a winning combination,” she said at the toss. 

Harmanpreet had also defended Raj’s exclusion from the team after the semi-final. "Whatever we decided, we decided for the team. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, no regrets."

The news of Raj’s omission did not go down well with her manager Annisha Gupta, who lashed out at Kaur and the Indian think tank on Twitter, according to ESPNCricinfo.

“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,” Gupta’s tweet read, soon after India were knocked out of the Women’s World T20.

In another tweet, she called Kaur a “manipulative, lying, cheat”.