Former opener WV Raman’s unceremonious ouster from the Indian women’s team head coach’s position has opened a can of worms with both the Madan Lal-headed Cricket Advisory Committee and Neetu David-led selection panel coming under the scanner of BCCI bigwigs.
Raman, who successfully coached the women’s team to T20 World Cup final in Australia and is widely acknowledged as one of the best Indian coaches, was removed by Lal and Naik’s CAC, which reinstated Ramesh Powar, who was removed from the same post in 2018.
Is Lal’s committee illegal as per norms?
“Maddi paaji (Madan Lal) celebrated his 70th birthday on March 20. The BCCI, in its appeal to Supreme Court against some of the reforms, doesn’t ask for roll-back of age-cap of 70 years. So how come Madan Lal was allowed to sit in CAC meeting?” a senior member asked.
While the BCCI has no intention of using its veto to over-rule Lal and Naik, the board’s top officials are unable to wrap their heads around as to what led to recommendation of Raman’s removal.
Did Raman & Neetu have a fall-out?
It has been confirmed from multiple sources that Raman had red-flagged the kind of squad that David, Arati Vaidya, Renu Margrate, Mithu Mukherjee and V Kalpana picked for the South Africa series, for which teen batting sensation Shafali Verma was not picked for the ODIs and senior pacer Shikha Pandey was inexplicably dropped.
“Do you know what kind of logic was given for dropping Shikha and Shafali? It is beyond comprehension,” a peeved senior official said.
The selectors said that Pandey was unfit because she hasn’t worked hard on training during lockdown and was “overweight”.
“But when they were asked to prove their point, they couldn’t simply do it,” the official alleged.
In the case of Shafali, her fielding was questioned and put forth as the reason for her non-selection in the ODI team.
“If Raman had a counter-question that if Shafali’s fielding is a problem for 50-over cricket, then it is bigger problem in T20 format where it is more important. Then how is she being selected in T20 format,” the official asked.
The selection of leg-spinner C Prathyusha and left arm seamer Monica Patel has also been questioned as they didn’t look ready for the rigours of International cricket.
Prathyusha gave 60 odd runs in 8 overs in one of the games.
“How did Monica get selected over Shikha Pandey?” is a question that is being asked.
Counter points against Raman
While the majority believe that the stylish southpaw of yesteryears has been hard done by, there are a few critics who feel that there were some loose ends from his side too.
“Some girls complained that he will at times switch himself off during training sessions. Also some girls felt under-appreciated. Someone like Rajeshwari Gayakwad was not even once praised despite she being the best bowler during the series,” a member from the anti-Raman camp said.
Another allegation against Raman is that he unwittingly gave gloveswoman Nuzhat Parween a debut cap without knowing that she has already played both ODIs and T20Is for India.
