Sourav Ganguly Not Surprised By Mithali Raj's Exclusion From Playing XI For Semifinal Against England

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly is not surprised at the women’s cricket team’s decision to drop their senior most player Mithali Raj for the ICC World T20 semi-final against England.

India entered the semifinal on the back of an impressive showing in the group stage. Harmanpreet Kaur & Co. had won all four of their group games and brushed New Zealand and Australia aside with surprising ease. Their batters managed to post big scores and the spinners played their part admirably too. However, nothing worked for the Women in Blue as England dismantled them to storm into the final of the competition.

One of the reasons behind the loss was the batting failure. At one stage, India were 89 for 2. However, they lost their eight wickets for just 23 runs to fold up for just 112. Well, the team surely missed the experience of Mithali Raj.

The former skipper had sat out India’s last group match against Australia to nurse a knee injury. Prior to that, she had scored fifties in both the games she had batted in. However, the team-management surprisingly decided to drop her for the crucial clash.

And not surprisingly, the decision has drawn widespread criticism. But unlike the majority, Sourav Ganguly was not taken aback by the move.

The legendary skipper stated that he faced the same fate when he was at the peak of his career.

“No! I also have also sat in the dug out after captaining India. When I saw Mithali Raj being dropped, I said ‘Welcome to the group’,” Ganguly said.

“Captains are asked to sit, so just do it. I have done it in Faisalabad. I didn’t play an ODI game for 15 months when I was probably the best performer in one-day cricket. It happens in life. The best in the world are at times shown the door,” the 46-year-old said recalling the 2006 second Test against Pakistan.

The former India skipper, however, said that the harsh benching is not an indication of end of road for Mithali.

“You should always remember you’re the best because you did something and there’s an opportunity again. So I am not too disappointed seeing Mithali Raj being asked to sit out. I have not been disappointed to see the reactions on the ground,” he said.

“But I am disappointed because India lost the semi-finals because I thought they had the team to go the distance. It happens as they say there’s no guarantee in life,” he added.