“Even the best are shown the door”- Ganguly on Mithali Raj’s omission from the World T20 semis

Mithali Raj is currently India’s leading run-scorer in T20I cricket above the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Prior to the Women’s World T20 in the West Indies, she was expected to play a crucial role in India Women’s campaign. The 35-year-old didn’t let her team down and scored 56 and 51 against Pakistan Women and Ireland Women respectively in the Group stage.

However, she was sidelined from the eleven against Australia owing to a knee niggle. Nevertheless, the experienced campaigner wasn’t opted for in India’s semi-final against Heather Knight’s England in Antigua. The Women in Blue lost the match by eight wickets and bowed out of the event. Thereafter, Annisha Gupta, Mithali’s manager, slammed Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur.

Recently, Sourav Ganguly, the former Indian men’s captain, mentioned that even the best in the sport have to sit out. The 46-year-old went down the memory lane and reminisced an incident surrounding the second Test against Pakistan in 2006 in Faisalabad when even he had to encounter a similar fate in his illustrious cricketing career as per reports in Outlook.

There’s an opportunity again

“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. 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,” Ganguly mentioned.

Nevertheless, he wants Mithali to take the positives out of it and aim for further goals. “You should always remember you’re 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,” Ganguly remarked.

Like every other Indian fan, even Ganguly was shattered by India’s tame defeat in the crunch match at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium. “But I am disappointed because India lost the semifinals because I thought they had the team to go the distance. It happens as they say there’s no guarantee in life,” the veteran of 113 Tests and 311 ODIs added.

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