Mithali Raj was "remote, difficult to manage," says Ramesh Powar at BCCI | Cricket News

NEW DELHI: Indian women's cricket coach Ramesh Powar admitted on Wednesday that he had a "tense" relationship with senior player Mithali Raj but insisted that his controversial fall in the World T20 semifinal was based solely on a cricket logic, said an official of the board of directors.

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Powar met with BCCI CEO Rahul Johri and General Manager (Cricket Operations) Saba Karim a day after he was accused of bias by Mithali. He met with the two heads of the board of directors at BCCI headquarters in Mumbai.

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The oldest female thresher of the Indian team, in a scathing e-mail to Johri and Karim, claimed that Powar had humiliated her at the World T20 in the West Indies and that she had remained in tears after the defeat of the team.

"Ramesh admitted that his professional relationship with Mithali was tense, as he still found it distant and difficult to manage," said a BCCI source at PTI, on conditions of anonymity.

However, the official said that Powar had insisted that Mithali's ax chop in the semifinal, which India had lost to England's eight wickets, was based on a strategy and not on acrimony.

"He claimed that it was because of a low strike rate that she had been eliminated against England and that the team leadership wanted to maintain a winning combination. "said the manager.

It is learned that the former spinner, who had succeeded to coaching as a temporary coach a few months ago, had acknowledged being "indifferent to the older player".

Powar was asked why Mithali's strike rate was not an obstacle to his selection for the matches against Ireland and Pakistan, but he had no answer to give. Mithali scored half a century in both games and was named player of the match.

Another aspect that was addressed was the question of whether there was an "external pressure" to dismiss Mithali from any influential leader.

According to the source, Powar denied receiving calls from anyone but claimed to be aware of the fact that a "powerful individual within the BCCI" was in contact with the team leader (Trupti Bhattacharya ) and the circuit selector (Sudha Shah).

On Tuesday, Mithali also accused Diana Edulji, a member of the Committee of Administrators (CoA), of bias. The captain of the ODI said that Edulji had used his position against her and made her vulnerable.

Edulji has not yet reacted to Mithali's allegations. Powar's 40-year interim term ends Friday.

Even though he will be free to apply for the position when new nominations are invited, there is little chance he will be retained, as his skills in managing players have been analyzed as a result of this. incident.