'I was humiliated': Mithali Raj hits out at coach Ramesh Powar, Diana Edulji
The whole Mithali Raj saga continues to roll on as the star women's cricketer now penned an open letter following her snub in the semi-finals of the ICC Women's World T20 versus England, where India were outplayed completely.
Despite scoring two fifties and being passed fit ahead of the semi-final, Raj was dropped as India decided to continue with the winning combination.
Harmanpreet Kaur's side started off well before suffering a dramatic collapse and folded out for as little as 112. England chased it down with ease and won the match by 8 wickets.
Following the match, there was a big outbreak as to why Raj was left out but skipper Harmanpreet defended it by saying that the decision was taken keeping in mind the best interests of the team.
While all this while Raj kept mum, she finally decided to speak about the whole saga and lashed out at the Committee of Administrators' member Diana Edulji and coach Ramesh Powar, saying a "few people in power are out to destroy me"
Mithali went on to allege that Edulji, who had backed her axing, used her position against her.
"For the first time in a 20 year long career, I felt deflated, depressed and let down. I am forced to think if my services to my country are of any value to a few people in power who are out to destroy me and break my confidence," she wrote in a letter to BCCI CEO Rahul Johri and Cricket Operations GM Saba Karim.
"I would also like to point out that I have nothing against the T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur except for the fact that her call to support the decision of the coach to leave me out of the eleven was baffling and hurtful.
"I wanted to win the world cup for my country and it hurts me because we lost a golden opportunity."
The 35-year-old slammed Edulji for defending the team's decision to drop her.
"To put things in perspective, I have always reposed faith in Diana Edulji and have always respected her and her position as a member of the COA, Never did I think she will use her position against me, more after hearing what all I had to go through in the Caribbean as I had spoken to her about it .
"Her brazen support in the press with regard to the decision of my benching in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup has left me deeply distressed, more because she knows the real facts having spoken to me."
She also narrated a series of instances where she felt embarrassed by Powar.
"For instance, walking off if I am sitting anywhere around, watching in the nets when others bat but choosing to walk away when I am batting in nets, if I try to go up to him to talk to start looking into his phone and keep walking.
"It was embarrassing and very evident to everyone that I was being humiliated. Yet I never lost my cool," she said.
