Ramesh Powar changed the face of Indian women’s cricket team, says Harmanpreet Kaur
Harmanpreet Kaur reveals that out-of-favor Indian women’s team coach, Ramesh Powar, has brought about a positive change in the team’s mentality and should hold on to his position as head coach. Further, Smriti Mandhana also backed Powar to retain his position with the national team.
The fallout between India’s most successful women’s cricketer, Mithali Raj, and coach of the national women’s cricket team Ramesh Powar, has been the talk of the town over the past week or so. While the general public’s opinion over the issue is still not clear, BCCI officials felt that the latter was at fault to drop Raj for the semi-final against England after he succumbed to pressure from external sources.
However, team India’s T20I captain, Harmanpreet Kaur, in a written letter to BCCI authorities, spoke very highly of the out-of-favour coach and added that Powar had helped change the face of Indian women’s cricket team ever since he was appointed as coach.
"I am writing to bring it under your notice that how tremendously our team has gone under positive changes in the past few months and has set a benchmark in the world's top teams. Our defeat in the semi-finals was very disheartening and it brings us all to feel more miserable to see how the controversies has stained our image and questioned the entire cricket fraternity.
"(sic) 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 Indian women's cricket team both technically and strategically. He has inculcated in us the sense of winning," wrote Harmanpreet in an email published by Hindustan Times.
Kaur wrote the above letter to BCCI officials after the Indian governing body chose to forego the option to renew Powar’s contract last week. However, the Punjab-born cricketer was adamant that Powar has helped transform the Indian team and urged BCCI to renew his contract in the coming days.
"The decision was entirely based on the cricketing
"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," Kaur added.
Smriti Mandhana's letter, resembling Kaur’s, added that there was a need to address the Raj-Powar situation as she said that, "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."