CoA chief Vinod Rai plays down Tushar Arothe’s hasty termination

The Indian women’s team which comprised of senior players like Mithali Raj, Smriti Mandhana and T20 skipper Harmanpreet Kaur had protested against the coaching methods of now former coach, Tushar Arothe. The differences between the two parties ultimately led to the dismissal of the coach from his post in a somewhat controversial manner.

However, the Supreme Court appointed Committee of Administrators head Vinod Rai was quick to clear the air around the whole issue surrounding Arothe’s resignation as he revealed that it was hyped up by the Indian media.

“This has been going since the time of Greg Chappell and Sourav Ganguly. This is nothing new,” Rai told PTI after a COA meeting here today.

This is the second time during the CoA tenure that a national coach has stepped down due to differences with the players in the national team setup. Last year, Indian team head coach Anil Kumble resigned due to his differences with captain Virat Kohli which the former made public on multiple occasions. Both Kumble and Arothe did a good job but could not continue in their position due to opposition from senior players in the team.

Arothe’s public criticism of the women’s team did not go well with the CoA with Diana Edulji also unhappy over the whole incident. Both Rai and Edulji had revealed that former India off-spinner and KXIP player Ramesh Powar was the coach of the Indian women’s team on an interim basis until a permanent coach was appointed after July 20.