The ouster of WV Raman because the Indian ladies’s cricket staff head coach and the reinstatement of Ramesh Powar to the publish has proven that the Board of Control for Cricket in India has not been it long-term. Without taking away the teaching credentials of Powar, who earlier this yr guided Mumbai to Vijay Hazare Trophy (home 50-overs competitors) and in addition did his BCCI Level-2 teaching course, it was troublesome to perceive why Raman was not given an extension, simply the identical method Powar was ousted after only a half-year stint in 2018 during which he guided the staff to ICC Women’s World T20 semifinals.
ALSO READ – Sacked Coach WV Raman Cries Foul, Alleges Smear Campaign Against Him
And, simply if you thought Raman did a good job, guiding India to the T20 World Cup remaining final yr earlier than the world went into the lockdown due to the pandemic and was additionally making ready the staff for subsequent yr’s 50-over World Cup in Australia-New Zealand, got here this newest improvement.
In the previous, the ladies’s staff coach publish was not fastened. Former India ladies’s staff captain, off-spinner and all-rounder, Purnima Rau, was sacked a few months earlier than the 2017 Women’s World Cup. Rau was the final lady coach of the Indian staff, after which Tushar Arothe, Ramesh Powar and WV Raman held the reins.
Rau, who performed in 5 Tests and 33 ODIs between 1993 and 2000, is steering herself away from the disagreeable developments in ladies’s cricket. The 54-year-old is devoting her time to natural farming about 40kms away from Hyderabad. “I grow organic vegetables and fruits and distribute them to families and friends. In women’s cricket, I could not enjoy the fruits of my labour during my playing and coaching days. In organic farming, I am enjoying my moments and they are sweeter than what I tasted in Indian women’s cricket,” she tells news18.com on this unique chat.
Rau is deeply harm with the flip of occasions within the latest previous and was pained to mirror upon what occurred to her 4 years in the past. Excerpts:
What did you make of the entire scenario in Indian ladies’s cricket? Ramesh Powar is the brand new coach however WV Raman has not completed something improper in his tenure to be not given an extension?
Coaches are taken for granted. There appears to be no respect for us. It is a rot and everyone is accountable. The gamers, directors, help employees, everybody. Now it has come to a stage the place it’s affecting the sport. When I took over as coach within the mid-2010s, I had a fun-loving, harmless, very gifted, beautiful staff. A few months prior to the 2017 World Cup (during which India misplaced to England by 9 runs within the remaining at Lord’s), I used to be booted out for no matter causes that weren’t given to me in any respect. Do you imply to say, any coach could make a staff in a single month earlier than the World Cup? Tushar Arothe then or for Ramesh Powar, now with lower than a yr left for the 2022 ICC Women’s World Cup, it isn’t potential. Everybody has stopped pondering why this staff is doing nicely. There is not any point out of me within the sense that I’ve sacrificed a lot for the staff. It was a pleasure to be part of the staff and convey it to this peak. Unfortunately, I used to be not there to get pleasure from that second. No regrets. It is a rot that worries me now. No one needs to do something about it. Things are persevering with the best way it was. Everybody is to be blamed – former gamers, directors of each state. They have uncared for the sport. It is doing extra hurt now.
Can you elaborate on the rot you talked about?
When we received the T20 sequence for the primary time in Australia in 2015-16, I keep in mind the staff to be a really harmless, blissful, hungry bunch. It was good to see them within the World Cup remaining in a matter of months. But, after tasting success, the contract system, social media turning into highly effective, Big Bash League, media consideration, cash, captaincy points, every little thing began snowballing into an enormous subject between them. There is not any camaraderie, no bonding between the gamers. Suddenly every little thing may change with the whiff of cash. They couldn’t deal with success and cash.
Former gamers have been doing it for ages. When you get a little bit little bit of energy, every little thing else goes out of the window. It is infectious. They have been all the time energy hungry. Women’s cricket suffers. One administrator blamed the opposite, and this continued into the participant’s system. It is a rot. Sourav Ganguly has to go forward and repair it. How lengthy will this go on, I don’t know. It will take time. Ramesh Powar has taken over as the brand new coach, he has to repair it. The onus is on him. Some stricter measures and accountability, whether or not it’s for selectors, coaches, directors in every state, want to be in place. Women’s cricketers have it in them to win the World Cup. I’ve informed this many instances within the staff conferences after I was the coach. Indian staff can win the World Cup not as soon as however three-four instances consecutively and stamp their class. Our home construction is sweet. But the psychological half, the angle of the gamers are completely going astray.
Why is that this occurring to the coach all the time? The coaches usually are not given an extended run.
Nobody is pleased with any coach. What are the coaches there for? They are there to information the gamers. Each coach has completed it in his or her personal method. They have introduced one thing or the opposite to the desk. The gamers know what I’ve completed for them, what Ramesh Powar (in his first transient stint), Tushar Arothe or WV Raman have completed for the staff. We are simply thrown apart. Is that proper? Something is improper. Somebody is encouraging this sort of behaviour.
Are the present gamers additionally to be blamed for the ‘rot’ that you simply talked about above?
Whoever these superstars are, those with a little bit of success, they only construct a wall round them, have agendas, there’s a fixed bickering throughout the staff and the sport is simply out of the window. Nobody is giving purpose for any type of sacking.
There are points with collection of gamers. What’s occurring there?
If any individual is sweet, her approach is sweet, can get runs at an excellent tempo, why not choose her for all of the codecs? Did not Virender Sehwag change the best way Test cricket was performed? Why can’t we choose Shafali Verma for all codecs (Shafali was not included within the ODI sequence in opposition to South Africa not too long ago however has earned her maiden Test and ODI name up for the upcoming tour of England). First of all, getting younger expertise in ladies’s cricket is hard. And, if you get it, why can’t you utilize her in all codecs? Former gamers have vested pursuits. Everything is occurring as per the vested pursuits. Everybody has an agenda, and the agenda is just not Indian cricket. The ladies comprehend it and so they have messed it up for themselves.
I learnt that Ramesh Powar ready the staff that was taken over by Raman, and Raman has now stated that he has ready this staff that Powar is taking on. If that’s the case, who made the staff for Tushar Arothe to take cost in 2017 earlier than the World Cup? Why are the women not speaking about it? Whatever I’ve achieved, every little thing has gone down the drain. Not that I care however I’ve conscience, gamers ought to have conscience, directors ought to have conscience. I’ve managed with out help employees. I didn’t have a staff supervisor initially. I used to be doing the supervisor’s position. I had simply three help employees – a video analyst, a physio and a coach. Team supervisor got here in late by which period I had already ready the logistics. Today’s coach has a big help employees. The present gamers don’t have the braveness and guts to acknowledge my contribution. Is this what the sport has taught them? Don’t they’ve conscience? My solely factor is let the main focus be on the sport, let the intention for the World Cup and work in direction of it.
How can this subject be solved?
Put the gamers of their locations, put the previous cricketers of their locations. Ask them to work for just a few months with out being paid. Let them establish amongst these people who find themselves real with none vested pursuits. Cut the lifeless twigs from the plant, take away the pests, and hold the plant in sunshine, so to say in farming language. Throw away all of the garbage that’s in ladies’s cricket. Someone with energy has to do it. If it isn’t completed, this rot will proceed. Someone has to present extra curiosity in direction of ladies’s cricket within the BCCI. They have thrown away us coaches after conserving us simply for the sake of it.
It should harm you not simply as a former coach but in addition a former India ladies’s staff captain and a profitable off-spinner and all-rounder. How was it in your enjoying days?
It was even worse. I used to be kicked out of captaincy. We received the Centenary Cup in New Zealand (1994-95), a uncommon abroad victory additionally involving Australia. Can anybody take away my achievement as a participant and later as a coach? They can take away the coach’s publish from me however not what I’ve contributed to the Indian ladies’s cricket out of my life. People may ask me why I didn’t communicate then. The reply is easy. I had none to whom I may write a letter to. I didn’t have a Sourav Ganguly then. I had individuals coming out and in of the BCCI. I didn’t know whom to speak to, ask for a purpose. It was so ill-mannered to not give a purpose as to why I used to be eliminated as coach. People have been listening to solely the one facet of the story, which is the gamers’ facet. But I’m not harm, I’m not pained. It is a sport in any case. Now with WV Raman’s elimination, there may be a lot consideration to his ouster. The gamers and the BCCI know what I’ve completed to the staff.
It is just not occurring solely now. It has been occurring since 1973 (when Women’s Cricket Association of India was fashioned). The ladies are good, very gifted, they will actually stamp their class, however there are such a lot of individuals pulling it down, and people individuals comprehend it. The gamers, ex-players, directors, help employees, they know what they’ve completed. It is time they made amends.
Did you count on Raman to be changed as coach when he has not completed something improper with the staff and guided it to the T20 World Cup remaining final yr? And, the complete nation went to a lockdown quickly after, so nothing a lot may be completed about ladies’s cricket.
I knew Raman’s days as ladies’s cricket coach have been numbered. I additionally know that Ramesh Powar’s days as coach of the ladies’s staff are numbered if individuals don’t take motion now. It is the coaches who’re axed. Nothing occurs to anyone else. We coaches are made the mincemeat of the entire scenario.
Why is it that the coaches are simple targets all the time?
Senior gamers have achieved and contributed to the sport that you simply go away it to them to make their resolution when to give up. They know they can’t go on endlessly. Senior gamers know what can contribute and what they can’t. They know the roles themselves. We ought to go away it to the gamers. That respect we should always give them. They could not have learnt to give respect to others however no less than I give them respect for their longevity. Also, you haven’t unearthed expertise to exchange them. You are reducing and chopping, not permitting gamers to be nurtured. How will you make one other Mithali Raj or Jhulan Goswami? That can also be what I imply by rot. I think about this sport. The sport is not going to undergo due to just a few people.
Should the ladies’s staff be coached solely by a lady?
It doesn’t matter. The gamers ought to be ready to assess and know what every coach has introduced to the desk. They are those who ought to be ready to reply this query higher. They needed a male coach, in reality. They have been with each, female and male coaches. In this Covid time, they (all these related with ladies’s cricket) have extra time to look again and ponder over what they’ve completed to ladies’s cricket, what they may have completed and the place they’ve tousled and make amends if they’re ready. It is a thankless job. From the underside of my coronary heart, I thank WV Raman, Ramesh Powar, Anju Jain, Sudha Shah and whoever has coached the ladies’s staff for struggling a lot. It is a problem for Ramesh Powar now.
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