Exclusion of Mithali Raj from team that took a drubbing at the hands of England at the World T20 semi-final raises Tushar Arothe’s eyebrows

Team India paid a heavy price for leaving out their senior-most player Mithali Raj from the XI in the semi-final clash against England on Thursday — an eight-wicket defeat and a numbing exit. After being unbeaten in the four group stage games, India were completely off colour. From being 89-2, they slumped to 112 all out in 19.3 overs.

India did manage to get rid of England openers Danielle Wyatt (8) and Tammy Beaumont (1) inside the first five overs, but they were left off the hook as Amy Jones (53 not out) and Natalie Sciver (52 not out) helped England chase the paltry total with 17 balls to spare.

This is the second significant T20 title India have lost under Harmanpreet Kaur’s captaincy after the Asia Cup T20 final against Bangladesh in June. Raj’s omission also left her family and close aides shell-shocked. Former India coach Tushar Arothe, who resigned from his position in July this year, sensed something fishy in the Raj dropping. “I don’t know what is happening there, sitting miles away from the action. But something is definitely fishy. How can you leave out Mithali? If you wanted her to sit out then they should not have included her in first place,” Arothe fumed over the phone from Baroda in a chat with mid-day.

“It was such a big game and we have an experienced campaigner in our team. When you read the pitch, you should have known that it is slow in nature and we need some experienced players. We have just have two or three match-winners in the team like Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti (Mandhana) and Mithali Raj. I fail to understand why Mithali was not included,” he added.

Courtesy By :-  Mid Day