Former Indian women’s team coach Tushar Arothe has made some flabbergasting declarations about the team’s management, its domain, the politics, and the treatment given to the team coaches. While revealing some unknown facts, he also questioned the authorities on their decision-making in a conversation with News 18.
Quoting some examples from the current happenings and the team selection for the India tour of England, Arothe expressed his thoughts upon the team selection. He called the system a ‘complete mess’, and felt that the decision-makers lacked the required vision.
“Simply put, there is a lot of politics in women’s cricket. In comparison, men’s cricket is very transparent. What I have seen from very close quarters in the team is that there is a lot of appeasement going on.”
says former India Coach Tushar Arothe while speaking. to News 18.
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) May 18, 2021
“The selectors don’t have a vision. We were playing against South Africa after a long break. Shikha Pandey was not included in the team and I heard that she was rested. I mean, how do you rest a player who hasn’t played for 12 months? It is a complete mess. Look at Taniya Bhatia, the safest pair of hands in the team. She wasn’t included in the team. Now again for the tour of England, these players are back. I ask, on what basis were they left out, and have been brought back now,” Arothe was quoted saying.
The Indian team is gearing up for their game against England Women and the squad for the three formats of the game was announced last week after the selection of Ramesh Powar as the head coach. The women in blue will be playing a one-off Test match, a three-match ODI series, and the same number of T20I games during their tour. Apart from Powar, Shiv Sunder Das and Abhay Sharma were named as the batting and fielding coaches respectively.
Arothe, who led the team as the coach in 2017-18, also opened up about the political games being played within the team as he said: “Simply put, there is a lot of politics in women’s cricket. In comparison, men’s cricket is very transparent. What I have seen from very close quarters in the team is that there is a lot of appeasement going on. I think the blame falls on former women players. Also, it is about the culture in the team. If the team doesn’t do well in a tournament, the coach is sacked. If a player doesn’t get along well with the coach, the latter is changed at their behest. You look at the coach before me, the way Purnima Rau was treated after doing so well with the team is beyond belief.”
After losing the T20I and ODI series against South Africa in March 2021, the Indian team aims to start their England campaign with a win. The first Test match will start on 16th June in Bristol.
I’m a Senior Masters student pursuing Journalism and Mass Communication. An all time Cricket enthusiast. I could never play the game but always loved watching it, and now writing about it!
