The Women’s World T20 is currently underway and India, despite playing well till the semifinals, could not make it any further as they lost to England by 8 wickets.
This came as yet another disappointment after the team lost in the ODI World Cup final, last year.
However, there was something else that made as much news, if not more.
It was Mithali Raj’s shock exclusion from the playing 11.
Mithali has performed brilliantly in the tournament, becoming the highest T20 scorer in the country and surpassing every male player in the world, later.
But for the semifinal, the team from India’s group game clash against Australia was retained, and it did not include Mithali.
The team lost the semifinal by 8 wickets and it was obvious that questions would be raised on selection choices. Commenting on the matter, Mithali’s manager Annisha said in a tweet:
Unfortunately @BCCIWomen believes in politics not sport. After witnessing what @M_Raj03 ‘s experience could do in IndvIre it’s shocking that they went with what pleases @ImHarmanpreet -a manipulative, lying, immature, undeserving captain.
Annisha later deleted her account.
Her comment came after Harmanpreet said she had ‘no regrets’ in leaving out Mithali from the playing 11, in the post-match conference.
In an interview given to ESPNcricinfo, Annisha also said:
I’d like to say that I don’t know what is going on on the inside but, now that the matches are being telecast, we can see who is performing and who is not. There are statements coming out that they wanted to give younger cricketers a chance but you don’t drop your senior-most, most experienced players in a semi-final against a country like England. It goes beyond giving the youngsters a chance.