Ramesh Powar: Mithali Raj was struggling to score as wickets were slow

The Mithali Raj saga has blown out of proportion in the past few days as various people connected to the the whole issue have gone public with their comments and turned it into a full-out war between the cricketer and the management. India women’s team coach, Ramesh Powar, was named in Raj’s leaked letter to BCCI CEO Rahul Johri and GM Saba Karim as he was accused of trying to ‘destroy’ the 35-year old’s career.

However, the former Indian spinner has hit back at those claims as he revealed that the decision to exclude Mithali from the matchday squad was due to low strike rate. Mithali’s half-century against Ireland (56 runs off 51 balls) proved that she was unable to score briskly.

"Mithali was dropped (from the playing eleven) because the team wanted to go ahead with the winning combination". If Mithali's letter to the board was a lengthy read, Powar's report turned out to be lengthier, the bulk of it focusing on Mithali, who Powar wrote "could not understand and adapt to her role in the team, batted for her own milestones, (and provided) minimum input in team meetings.

"In practice games, she (Mithali) was struggling to score quickly as wickets were low (in) bounce and slow. (Her) Intent was missing and (she) could not lean and execute shots due to limited ability in skills and fitness. It was conveyed to her logically that she will be batting in the middle-order (before the match against New Zealand) and she agreed too," Powar mentioned in his report board officials.

Powar justified his decision to put Mithali lower down the order as highlighted how Taniya Bhatia and Hemlatha scored freely in the powerplay, as they executed the team strategy to help a winning cause.

Another issue that the BCCI and CoA will now address is whether or not to extend the current contract of Powar as the coach of the national team. As per recent reports in TOI, there are a few people who have opined that the CoA cannot go ahead and extend Powar's tenure. 

"There were 24 applicants for the job. Powar's tenure was extended because the World T20 was around. But what's the hurry now? What has happened to those 24 applicants? Was that entire process a hogwash?" sources told TOI.