WV Raman writes to Ganguly, Dravid; scathing in assessment

The day after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) appointed a new coach for the women's team, the outgoing coach WV Raman has minced no words in a scathing letter to the BCCI President Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, the head of the National Cricket Academy.

In what is of note in the letter, Raman has been vocal in his criticism of "some people in the system".

"If some people in the system have been highly accommodated to the extent of being seemingly obsequious to an accomplished player for years, and if that performer feels constrained to that culture, I would leave it to you to decide as a successful former captain if the coach was asking for too much," Raman is learned to have written in his mail to Ganguly on Friday (May 14).

On Thursday, Raman was replaced by Ramesh Powar, who himself had a very public fallout then with Mithali Raj, the highest run-getter in the women's international cricket, before he was dropped by BCCI in 2018.

In his short letter, which has also been copied to Dravid, the head of India cricket, Raman said he has no qualms in accepting the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) decision to drop him as coach but he said it would never be in the interest of Indian women's cricket if the decision was based on a complaint from players.

Raman has alleged that some individuals are allowed to keep personal interest above the team's and has used strong words such as 'overall hygiene of women's cricket' and 'country's pride' in his assessment.

"If I were to be rejected due to my incompetence as a coach, there is no argument at all because that is a judgement call. But what will be extremely disconcerting is if my candidature was rejected due to any other reasons especially due to allegations from people who more focussed on achieving their personal objectives at the expense of the overall hygiene and welfare Indian women's team and pride of the country," Raman wrote without mincing words. "In my career spanning 20 years, I have always had a work culture in which 'team comes first' and no individual was overriding the game or the team (sic)."

The 55-year-old Raman from Chennai has played 11 Tests and 27 ODIs in a career spanning 17 years between 1982 and 1999. He has been at the helm of the women's team for two years from December, 2018.

Raman had started the letter saying he is writing after due deliberation and consideration and wanted to provide his feedback to the BCCI if it intended to do some course correction. He also pleaded that the campaign against him should end. He wrote, "His style of function and work ethics are of no consequences now. However, what is important to me is that the smear campaign has gained unwarranted traction with some BCCI officials which needs to be halted permanently," he further wrote. "I am prepared to provide explanations (sic)."