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Indian players failed to handle fame and money: Purnima Rau on rift in women's cricket

Former India women’s head coach and an established international cricketer during her heydays, Purnima Rau lambasted the current crop of players in the Indian team suggesting that success and money tend to get the better of them.

She felt that while the triumphant Indian team from the 2015-16 T20 series in Australia was a happy and innocent bunch, things started to take a U-turn when they were offered huge sums of money and quite a few got the opportunity to ply their trades in Women’s Big Bash League. 

“When we won the T20 series for the first time in Australia in 2015-16, I remember the team to be a very innocent, happy, hungry bunch. It was nice to see them in the World Cup final in a matter of months,” Rau was quoted as saying during an exclusive interview with News 18. 

“But, after tasting success, the contract system, social media becoming powerful, Big Bash League, media attention, money, captaincy issues, everything started snowballing into a big issue between them. There is no camaraderie, no bonding between the players. Suddenly everything could change with the whiff of money. They could not handle success and money,” she further added.

The context of having no team bonding and camaraderie has been quite prevalent in the Indian women’s cricket set-up. It was reported that there was unrest in the team following Mithali Raj’s omission for the playing XI in the 2017 World T20 semi-final. 

Ramesh Powar was sacked as the head coach but not before both Harmanpreet and Smriti Mandhana wrote a letter to BCCI insisting to keep Powar as the coach which was against the views of Mithali Raj. However in response to her equation with Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet had vouched that she doesnt have a problem with the former skipper. 

“I don’t think there has been any problem between me and Mithali. I can speak for myself. You have to speak to her and ask if she has a problem with me. I have always respected her as a senior. We are mature enough to handle the situation. We will have to play as a unit to take the team forward. We are more team players than individuals. If you think about the team cause, you will put your head down and work towards that. I have met her and spoken to her after all these events and we seem to have moved on,” Harmanpreet was quoted as saying by The Mumbai Mirror.

Without mentioning any name, Rau said that this is nothing new among former players. When power comes in, everything else takes a backseat and in return, it affects women’s cricket. She urged the BCCI President Sourav Ganguly to come forward and solve these issues.

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