Ramesh Powar hopes WV Raman isn't criticised for dropping Mithali Raj

The Indian Women’s team just completed their New Zealand tour after suffering a 3-0 series defeat in T20Is. Barring opener Smriti Mandhana, none of the Indian batters performed consistently. Some were also surprised by the omission of Mithali Raj from the first two games after the whole controversial exit of former coach Ramesh Powar after the T20 World Cup.

Just a few months back Powar decided to bench the veteran from the Women’s World T20 semi-final against England in West Indies. What happened next is quite well known to everyone as India were eliminated from the World Cup and the controversy cost Ramesh Powar his job. Now again the same approach is taken by the new coach WV Raman as Mithali was dropped from the first two games for building a team aimed at the future.

Powar has come out in support of the new coach and feels people should support Raman and look at the larger picture for the betterment of Indian cricket.

“I don’t know what exactly is happening, but he did what exactly I did. The coach must be having some vision about how to take this team forward. You can’t play forever. As a coach and captain, or the team management, you need to take a call about how to take the team forward,” the former Indian cricketer was quoted as saying by cricbuzz.

He also explained that he had no problems with Mithali Raj and he dropped her from the team in West Indies with a vision about building a young team for the future. He said, “So I was thinking ahead. My vision was that if we had won that game, it would have taken the team places in the future. In two to five years, these girls would have developed into a great team. That was my thought process.”

He believes the new coach WV Raman is thinking the same way and he should be allowed to work freely and should not be criticized for his decisions. Power felt that

“He’s a newly-appointed coach. He needs some time to think about how he wants to take the team forward. He has started his vision. There’s no option but to think ahead. It’s not about Mithali, it’s about forging a combination which you think is right. He must be planning to build a team for the next T20 WC.”

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