Travelling selector knew of Mithali Raj's exclusion

Mithali Raj's non-inclusion from the Indian XI for the World Twenty20 semifinal against England in Antigua on November 22, which they lost by eight wickets has generated a lot of debate among Indian fans.



Raj had missed being a part of the victory against Australia in Guyana because of being "unwell", and the team management decided to go with the winning combination. It was the first time after her debut tour of England in 1999 that Mithali, the country's highest run-getter in T20Is, was not a part of the Indian team despite being available to play.



The Times of India has reported that the call to bench Mithali for the knockout was encounter was of the team management consisting of Harmanpreet Kaur, the captain, Ramesh Powar, the coach, and Smriti Mandhana, the vice-captain. It met the approval of Sudha Shah, the travelling selector.



"I, as manager, convened the meeting. They (captain, coach and selector) discussed the wicket and the coach expressed that the same winning combination against Australia should play. Harman and Smriti shared the same view and also told the selector, Sudha Shah, that an extra bowler would help the team. Sudha Shah agreed to the XI and did not express anything," wrote Trupti Bhattacharya, the team manager, in her report which has been accessed by The Times of India.



The call was apparently taken a few hours before the start of the match during the practice session.



Sudha, the former India batter who featured in the country's inaugural Test match in 1976, was a part of the five-member selection committee headed by Hemlata Kala, but her services were not required after the Lodha Committee recommendation suggested the committee to be of three members. The decision, however, was overturned earlier this year and Sudha along with Anjali Pendherkar resumed responsibilities before India's tour of Sri Lanka.



Meanwhile, Sportstar reported that Mithali, who won player of the match awards in her last two outings against Pakistan and Ireland for twin half-centuries, had spoken to her personal coach, RSR Murthy, over phone a night before the game and was confident of making it back to the XI. But Murthy, who is employeed with South Central Railway in Hyderabad like her student, told that Mithali was "crestfallen" after being benched.



"Mithali was told after the warm-up session on the morning of the semifinal that she doesn’t figure in the playing XI, leaving her terribly disappointed. Only last night, I spoke to her and she looked mentally and physically geared up for the semifinal and even hinted that she might not open but would play in the middle-order," Murthy was as quoted saying to Sportstar. "I told her just to enjoy batting in any position she gets a chance. Apparently, the coach and the captain Harmanpreet Kaur took the call to drop her."



The news of Mithali being dropped spread like wildfire and there were a lot of reactions on social media, with Annisha Gupta, her manager, calling Harmanpreet "manipulative, lying, cheat" in a tweet. She has since then deactivated her Twitter account, but prior to that had defended her statement to ESPNcricinfo. 



Later on, Nooshin Al Khadeer, the former India offspinner and Mithali's closest friend in the circuit, put out a tweet disassociating Mithali from Gupta's views.



https://twitter.com/AlNooshin/status/1066037981180358657



In the post-match press conference Harmanpreet defended the call to not play Mithali, saying, "Whatever we decided, we decided for the team. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't".



Mithali, who has 2,283 runs in 85 T20Is since making his debut in India's first-ever game in August 2006 where she led the country to victory over England in Derby, had earlier indicated that this could be her last World T20.



She averages 37.42, and has 17 half-centuries, which is the third-most by any batter in the format. She has won five player of the match awards in T20Is in 2018.