After writing to BCCI President Sourav Ganguly and NCA Head Rahul Dravid about the “star culture” present in the Indian women’s cricket, WV Raman, the outgoing head coach of the Women in Blue has alleged that a “smear campaign” against him has garnered unwarranted traction. Raman has urged Ganguly to take steps to stop it.
In the email, Raman wrote it will be “extremely disconcerting” if his candidature was rejected due to reasons other than “my incompetency as a coach”. Ramesh Powar replaced Raman as the head coach last week.
Former Head Coach of Indian Women’s Cricket team WV Raman alleges smear campaign against him. pic.twitter.com/w7pbfPlNl3
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) May 16, 2021
“I presume you might have been told different views about my style of functioning and work ethic. Whether those views conveyed to the officials of the BCCI had any impact on my candidature is of no consequence now. What is important is that the smear campaign seems to have gained some unwarranted traction with some BCCI officials which needs to be halted permanently. I am prepared to give an explanation should you or any of the office bearers require it,” Raman wrote.
He further added, “If I were to be rejected due to my incompetency as a coach, there is no argument on a judgment call at all,” he wrote. “But what will be extremely disconcerting is if my candidature was rejected due to any other reasons. Especially if it was due to allegations from people who were more focused on achieving their personal objectives at the expense of the overall hygiene and welfare of the Indian women’s team and the pride of the country.”
The letter also states, “If some people in the system have been highly accommodative to the extent of being seemingly obsequious to an accomplished performer for years on end – and if that performer feels constrained to adhere to the culture – then I would leave it to you to decide if the coach was asking for too much. In a coaching career spanning 20 years, I have always created a culture in which the team always comes first and insists on no individual overriding either the game or the team.”
In a concluding remark, Raman seeking help from the two aforementioned legends, wrote, “The time has come for you two accomplished former legends to salvage women’s cricket, failing which things could gather momentum in the wrong direction. I have some suggestions that might help in the improvement of women’s cricket. I will be delighted to share those if you are interested.”
This article is the summary of the original article published by PTI
I am a former cricketer having represented Mumbai University at All India University level. I was a part of MCA probables for the U-19 and U-23 age group. I have been an avid cricket writer for the last five years. Currently I am pursuing my Ph.D from IIT Bombay.