Diana Edulji's statement on Mithali Raj's omission contradictory: Tushar Arothe

Mumbai: Committee of Administrators (CoA) member Diana Edulji’s statement on the Indian team management’s decision to omit Mithali Raj from the playing XI for the ICC Women’s World T20 semifinal has not gone well with former coach Tushar Arothe.

Arothe was referring to a statement made by Diana Edulji when she said that he could not ‘pick and choose’ whom to play following Pooja Vastrakar’s omission from the Asia Cup final against Bangladesh earlier this year.

"Why is Diana contradicting her statement by saying that it was the team management's decision to drop Mithali Raj? Why did she interfere in team selection during the Asia Cup in Malaysia? At that time too, the team management had taken a decision to drop Pooja Vastrakar in the final,” Arothe was quoted saying by the Times of India.

"However, after the tournament, I, on tour selector Shashi Gupta and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur were summoned by Diana and asked why Vastrakar was not played in the final of the Asia Cup. At that time, I told her that it was the team management's decision, but she had clearly told me that I can't pick and choose whom to play.

"Now, within three months, the same person who questioned the team management on selection, is contradicting her own statement. Why did you question the team management on selection at that time? What has changed now? She needs to answer this question,” he continued.

Mithali was left out of India’s playing XI against England in the World T20 semifinal and Edulji had said that too much was made out of it.

"I think too much is being made out of it. The management (captain Harmanpreet Kaur, coach Ramesh Powar, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana and selector Sudha Shah) made the decision of not changing a winning combination and that backfired. If I India had won the game, I am sure nobody would have questioned their decision," the CoA member had said.

As a result, the Women in Blue went onto lose the match by eight wickets and end their dream of a maiden World T20 triumph.