The appointment of former India spinner Ramesh Powar as India ladies’s cricket group head coach got here as a shock on Thursday after the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) selected him for the put up, changing WV Raman. The CAC, comprising Madan Lal and Sulakshna Naik interviewed eight candidates for the put up, earlier than choosing Mumbai-based Powar.
The 42-year-old Powar was the top coach of the group in 2018 earlier than he and ODI captain Mithali Raj turned embroiled in a public spat. The battle started after Raj was dropped from the T20 World Cup semi-final in opposition to England, a match that India ultimately misplaced.
What adopted was a saga of leaked emails and notes from group conferences, Twitter rants, accusations and counter-accusations and a letter from Raj to BCCI detailing alleged “discriminatory” and “humiliating” behaviour that she confronted from Powar through the World Cup.
Powar retaliated, accusing Raj of “placing her curiosity first” as an alternative of the group’s.
Quickly after the World Cup ended, Powar was faraway from his place. The controversy revealed deeper rifts within the group too, as T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur and vice-captain Smriti Mandhana wrote fervent appeals to the BCCI to reinstate Powar as coach.
Not a lot has modified since then, so Powar will start his second stint because the India Ladies’s coach with Raj because the ODI captain and Kaur the T20 captain.
“All of us within the committee felt Ramesh Powar was one of the best candidate and it was a unanimous selection,” Madan Lal, BCCI Cricket Advisory Committee head, mentioned. “So far as him working along with Mithali Raj is worried, there shouldn’t be any drawback. Mithali’s job as a captain is to give attention to her position and she or he ought to work to take the group ahead.”
Raj can be anticipated to be introduced captain of the India’s Check group in opposition to England. That will turn out to be the primary task for the captain-coach duo, when India performs a Check match on June 16, after a spot of seven years, adopted by an ODI and a T20 sequence.
“If they need India to do effectively, each should work collectively and play to win and see that Indian ladies’s cricket stays on the forefront,” mentioned Diana Eduljee, former member of BCCI’s committee of directors (COA). “I want Ramesh one of the best for the longer term.”
Edulji too was embroiled when the Raj-Powar controversy was taking part in out. Raj had accused Edulji of utilizing her place in opposition to her and in favour of Powar in her letter to the BCCI.
After Powar’s exit, Raman was appointed as the brand new coach and whereas the group reached the T20 World Cup closing in Australia final 12 months, the group has in any other case not had a lot success below his reign.
Powar, who led Mumbai to a dominating win on the Vijay Hazare Trophy this 12 months as head coach, may even take care of Ladies’s India A and Ladies’s India U-19 groups.