Women's World T20: Mithali's exclusion raises questions after India's semi-final loss
Mithali Raj did not play the semi-final of Women's World T20 against England and India lost the match by eight wickets.
Mithali Raj was excluded from India's Women's World T20 semi-final for a 'winning combination'. (@WorldT20 Photo)
HIGHLIGHTS
- Mithali Raj, who had scored two 50s in the World T20, was left out from the semi-final
- India lost the semi-final to England by 8 wickets
- Fans on social media raised serious questions after Mithali Raj's bizarre exclusion
The Indian cricket team lost the semi-final of Women's World T20 on Friday but it was Mithali Raj being dropped from the playing XI that sent shockwaves among the fans.
India won the toss and opted to bat and it was then that captain Harmanpreet Kaur announced that Mithali was not in the playing XI. She said that the Indian management had decided to back their winning combination.
Mithali had not played India's final group match against Australia, which they won by a massive 48 runs, because she was unwell. But her omission on Friday was the management's decision and fans were not happy about it.
Mithali had batted in two matches so far, had scored two half-centuries and had won two player-of-the-match awards. Her exclusion felt nothing short of bizarre to most.
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"It's not a pitch where you can hit through the line and fetch boundaries. Mithali Raj would have been ideal on this pitch. Wrong move by India to drop Mithali. But India still good enough to beat ENG," Sanjay Manjrekar tweeted.
It’s not a pitch where you can hit through the line and fetch boundaries. Mithali Raj would have been ideal on this pitch. Wrong move by India to drop Mithali. But India still good enough to beat ENG.#ICCWWT20
However, it did not turn out to be very pretty for Harmanpreet's side as Smriti Mandhana remained their top scorer with 34 runs in 23 deliveries while India got all out for just 112 runs.
According to fans, India missed Mithali's stability in the middle where she could have ground out some runs on a tough pitch.
A twitter user 'aprajita bansal' reminded the Indian management that Mithali had one of the best records against England and this pitch was hers to exploit.
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