Letter Was to Appraise Sourav About Certain Practices That Need To Be Reviewed And Rectified: WV Raman

WV Raman’s sacking as the head coach of the Indian women’s team sparked a considerable amount of controversy. After careful contemplation by the Cricket Advisory Committee, consisting of Madan Lal, RP Singh and Sulakshana Naik, the trio decided to bring back Ramesh Powar as the coach. WV Raman, who wrote a letter to BCCI President Sourav Ganguly accusing him of a smearing campaign, revealed why he did so.

Under WV Raman, India did decently as the ODI side won 10 out is 17 One-Day Internationals and boasted of a 15-13 record in T20Is. The Indian women’s team also put on an impressive show in the 2020 Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia as they reached the final of the tournament. Following that massive defeat, the side remained inactive for a year as the future visits and matches kept getting postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But their white-ball series loss at home to South Africa, losing the ODI series by 4-1 and the T20 rubber by 2-1, prompted the BCCI to revisit Raman’s appointment. Since the board’s decision to sack him, the 55-year old has confined himself to social media and congratulated Powar on his appointment. He also wrote to Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, mentioning his willingness to explain his style of functioning, work ethics, share suggestions to improve women’s cricket. Later, he thanked BCCI Secretary Jay Shah for his “kind words” without revealing much details about the conversation.

Ganguly has seen it all as a former player and captain, and therefore, I felt it was better to get him into the frame: WV Raman

WV Raman underlined that his decision to write to Sourav Ganguly was to course-correct and that it dealt with the requirement for the system to encourage or ensure a healthy team culture. Raman wanted Ganguly to intervene as he has seen everything as a captain and player and added Rahul Dravid, the NCA Head of Cricket, since he is responsible for grooming the future players. Hence, the correspondence was only to bring to attention that certain policies and practices need revisiting.

“My writing to Sourav was to propel him into action to course-correct, if required. The letter dealt with the need for the system to encourage or ensure players adhere to a healthy team culture. Ganguly has seen it all as a former player and captain, and therefore, I felt it was better to get him into the frame. I also added Dravid because he handles cricketers of the future and might make certain aspects a part of the curriculum in the NCA, if he hasn’t already. Typical of the current era, the phrase prima donna, which has never figured in the letter, has hogged the headlines! The whole point of the letter was to appraise Sourav about certain practices that need to be reviewed and rectified, if he so deemed fit,” Raman told Cricbuzz.

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