Indian women’s ODI skipper Mithali Raj recently claimed that the fallout with the former national team head coach Ramesh Powar was the most difficult phase of her career off the field.

Very surprisingly, Mithali Raj was dropped from the playing XI during the semi-final of 2018 ICC Women’s World T20 against England women that India women lost by 8 wickets. Raj also missed the previous game of that tournament which was the last group stage game against Australia women. However, India already secured their semi-final spot before that Australia game but missing the semi-final was totally unexpected, especially when Raj was in-form as she played two consecutive 50+ knocks in the last two games.

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After their exit from the 2018 WWT20 semi-final, Mithali wrote a letter to the BCCI demanding justice. In that letter, Mithali claimed that then head coach Powar and a few top people tried to destroy her by some biased decision.

Talking about that matter, Mithali recently told TOI, “I would like to sum it all up by saying that it was not a very good experience. Definitely, it was the most difficult phase of my career off the field. I don’t need to justify after all these years what I have done and what I am as a player. I can’t change people’s perceptions. It is not in my control. But what is in my control is that as long as I am playing, as long as I take the field as a player or as captain, there will not be any less percentage of commitment.”

After that incident, the T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur and ODI captain Mithali Raj both have clarified that they have no problem with each other. However, Mithali felt hurtful after Kaur defended the head coach in that matter.

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But both are ready to carry on the national duty by putting this aside as Mithali is confident that the players are going to be united soon.

She said, “I am not sure how things will be off the field, but as professional cricketers who have been playing for so many years, each one of us understands what it takes to get the team together on the field and perform. Also, these things are secondary when you have a job on hand to represent the country at the highest level. I am sure everyone knows that they have to put their heads down and perform.”

After Powar’s term ended at the end of November 2018, he didn’t get an offer for the contract extension. Later, WV Raman has been appointed as the new head coach of the team.

Talking about Raman, Mithali said, “I am not here to judge him. I am here to get the team together and get them to perform as a unit. He has a lot of experience and if you look at his credentials, he has coached at every level and comes with a lot of expertise. It will only do good for the team.”