Former Coach Tushar Arothe Questions Diana Edulji's Double Standards

Former India Women's team coach Tushar Arothe has questioned Committee of Administrators member Diana Edulji for her double-standards in the Mithali Raj selection fiasco.

Edulji had tried to brush aside controversies that arose after Mithali's omission from the playing XI for India's World T20 semifinal against England, saying nobody should question the decisions of the team management.

Arothe, though, pointed out that Edulji had done exactly that after India had lost the Asia Cup final to Bangladesh in July.

"Why is Diana contradicting her statement by saying that it was the team management's decision to drop Mithali Raj? Why did she interfere in team selection during the Asia Cup in Malaysia? At that time too, the team management had taken a decision to drop Pooja Vastrakar in the final," Arothe told Times of India.

"However, after the tournament, I, on tour selector Shashi Gupta and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur were summoned by Diana and asked why Vastrakar was not played in the final of the Asia Cup. At that time, I told her that it was the team management's decision, but she had clearly told me that I can't pick and choose whom to play.

"Now, within three months, the same person who questioned the team management on selection, is contradicting her own statement. Why did you question the team management on selection at that time? What has changed now? She needs to answer this question."

Arothe resigned as head coach of the side after the Asia Cup, after senior players had protested against his training methods. The former Baroda player, who had taken the position before the World Cup in 2017, explained that Vastrakar's poor catching was the reason behind her omission.

"I had dropped Vastrakar because she dropped too many catches against Bangladesh, and we lost the match due to that reason," he explained. "Her ground fielding was good, but catching was bad, and we had suffered badly in the past too because of this. Keeping that factor, and her expensive bowling in mind, the team management decide to drop her."

On Tuesday (November 27), Mithali too had lashed out at Edulji saying she "used her position against me".