India Women's Captains Mithali Raj And Harmanpreet Kaur Clear Air Over BCCI's Gender Bias

The captains of the Indian Women’s Cricket Team, Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur have cleared the air over rumors of BCCI supporting gender bias. Notably, the BCCI came in the midst of a controversy on Tuesday, when the rumours of differentiating women cricketers surfaced over the internet.

The Indian Men’s Cricket Team and the Indian Women’s Cricket Team are slated to fly to the United Kingdom (UK) as the men’s national team will compete in the ICC World Test Championship final and a bilateral Test series against England whereas, the women’s team will take on the English women for a one-off Test match.

Harmanpreet Kaur And Mithali Raj Clear The Air Over BCCI’s Gender Bias

There were rumours on the internet claiming that the BCCI had arranged a Charter flight for the men’s cricket team while the Women’s cricket team was asked to travel in commercial flights. Now, the ODI and the T20I skipper, Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur have quashed all such rumours and shed light on the topic.

Both the players took to Twitter and made it clear that it was more of a personal decision by the members of the Indian Women’s Cricket Team rather than it being a case of gender bias by the board.

Harmanpreet took to Twitter and wrote, “The BCCI has organised Charter flights to ferry both men and women players to Mumbai before we leave for the UK. Considering the distance and individual convenience players have made their own choice.”

Mithali Raj, on the other hand, wrote, “Travelling is a challenge in the pandemic but it is reassuring to see elaborate measures by BCCI for our health and safety. A charter to Mumbai and UK and regular RT-PCR Tests at home.”

The BCCI has organised Charter flights to ferry both men and women players to Mumbai before we leave for the UK. Considering the distance and individual convenience players have made their own choice.

— Harmanpreet Kaur (@ImHarmanpreet) May 18, 2021

Traveling is a challenge in the pandemic but it is reassuring to see elaborate measures by BCCI for our health and safety. A charter ✈️ to Mumbai and UK and regular RT-PCR Tests at home. #LetsDoThis

— Mithali Raj (@M_Raj03) May 18, 2021

Indian Women’s Cricket In A Lot Of Turbulence In The Last Week

In the last week, Indian women’s cricket has been under a lot of scrutiny and turbulence with the recent turn of events. Notably, WV Raman, the former Indian Women’s Coach was not allowed by the BCCI to extend his tenure and Ramesh Powar was once again appointed as the head coach of the Women’s team. Powar and Mithali Raj have had a fallout earlier.

Raman, after his tenure completed, wrote a scathing letter to BCCI President Sourav Ganguly and the NCA head, Rahul Dravid, complaining about a privileged culture in the women’s cricket team. Former coach Tushar Arothe also came up with serious allegations of politics inside the team.