Mithali Raj has recently been excluded from Indian Womens Cricket Team after the team lost to New Zealand by 23 runs in the first T20I of the three-match series on Wednesday.
However teams captain Harmanpreet said that Mithali’s exclusion from the team is to give the youngsters some game time. “We are looking to give chance to young girls, that is the only reason,” Harmanpeet said when asked about Mithali’s absence from the squad.
This is India’s second straight T20 outing that Mithali has been excluded from after being dropped in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup last November. The one-day skipper had in fact won the Player of the Match award in the two games where she got a chance to bat but Harmanpreet Kaur and the team management chose to leave her out of the knock out game against England.
India lost the match by 8 wickets and once the team returned home, controversy followed with coach Ramesh Powar’s contract not being renewed by the board.
Since then, Mithali has spoken out about the team moving past the controversy and led the side to a 2-1 ODI series win against New Zealand where she scored 9 and an unbeaten 63.
