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Selectors don’t have a vision, there's lot of politics in women’s cricket: Former coach

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Last updated on 18 May 2021 | 03:36 AM
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Selectors don’t have a vision, there's lot of politics in women’s cricket: Former coach

Tushar Arothe said it was unfair on Raman, but Powar and his team should now focus on the future

Former India Women’s cricket team Tushar Arothe has launched a scathing attack on some of the players and also threw his weight behind WV Raman who was not retained as the head coach of the senior women's team by the Cricket Advisory Committee who picked Ramesh Powar for the top job.

"Simply put, there is a lot of politics in women’s cricket. In comparison, men’s cricket is very transparent. What I have seen from very close quarters in the team is that, there is a lot of appeasement going on. I think the blame falls on former women players. Also, it is about the culture in the team," the former Baroda Ranji player, who coached the team from 2017-2018, told Cricketnext.

"If the team doesn’t do well in a tournament, the coach is sacked. If a player doesn’t get along well with the coach, the latter is changed at their behest. You look at the coach before me, the way Purnima Rau was treated after doing so well with the team is beyond belief.

"I think, in my case, what went wrong was I asked the players to focus on competing with the top sides and prepare accordingly for them. Some players didn’t really like my approach since I also told them that the effort put in during their 2017 World Cup campaign — where they reached the final — wasn’t going to be enough in the future.

"In my first assignment as coach, in South Africa, I didn’t see a great bond in the girls. We used to focus a lot on team gelling and team-building exercises. So it did reap benefits for the team then. I think for the common good of the team, the girls will have to display that camaraderie every time they step on the field. Senior players again have a big role to play, they need to lift the team up now."

Also read: A saga of musical chairs

Arothe said it was unfair on Raman, but Powar and his team should now focus on the future and not repeat the same mistakes. "I personally think it is a little unfair on Raman. If you look at his tenure, he took the girls to the final of the T20 World Cup, and most of the other period under him, went in lockdown due to COVID-19," said Arothe, who guided the side to the World Cup final in 2017.

"So once can’t really judge his tenure. Also, if you’re looking at the South Africa series, these girls were playing a lot of cricket already, but the Indians girls were playing after a year and were rusty. So he had no chance to work with the girls, and there was no camp. So they could have given one more year to WV.

"Well, we had all heard about the problem between Powar and Mithali Raj during the World Cup in West Indies, 2018. But now it’s a fresh start and now someone who has a stronghold in the team, should intervene and take a stock of the whole situation and make sure that both the parties are on the same page this time around.

"Whatever happened in the past, we need to forget it here. It is the future of the Indian team we are talking about, here. I mean both need to have the same goal now, which is winning the World Cup, and not lose in the semis or finals."

Arothe said that the players should also be held accountable if the team doesn't do well. "I think players should be made accountable for their’s and team’s performance. That’s how the responsibility will come in the team. And the other would be, ex-women players — who do have any business with the team or its functioning, should strictly stay away. I feel currently, that is not the case and there is an involvement of unnecessary people as well. I mean, they all mean well for the team, but it is clearly not helping.

"The selectors don’t have a vision. We were playing against South Africa after a long break. Shikha Pandey was not included in the team and I heard that she was rested. I mean, how do you rest a player who hasn’t played for 12 months? It is a complete mess. Look at Taniya Bhatia, safest pair of hands in team. She wasn’t included in the team. Now again for the tour of England, these players are back. I ask, on what basis were they left out, and have been brought back now."

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