DIFFERENCE IN APPROACH

Girls didn't want to come out of their comfort zone: Arothe

by Gaurav Gupta • Last updated on

"In my stint, in which we played around 18 ODIs, the bowlers helped us to two wins-one of them in the World Cup. Wasn't this valuable to the team?" © Getty

Almost a year back, women's cricket in India was at an all-time high. Playing some exciting brand of cricket, the Indian team had won everybody's hearts by reaching the final of the 50-over World Cup in England. A year later, things don't look as rosy. Though they reached the T20 Asia Cup final in Kuala Lumpur, India suffered twin defeats to Bangladesh. A dubious first for them.

To make it worse, reports emerged of the team being unhappy with coach Tushar Arothe. Senior players Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur, captains of India's ODI and T20 sides, met the Committee of Administrators (CoA) in this regard, who then summoned the former Baroda cricketer. On Monday night, a "disappointed" Arothe, who had coached India during that memorable campaign last July, put in his papers. A rather acrimonious fallout with senior players in the team had taken its his toll on him.

"There's no hard feelings between the players and myself and any other support staff. I'm quitting due to personal reasons. I wish the girls well in the forthcoming series (three ODIs and five T20Is in Sri Lanka) and in the World Cup and make India proud," Arothe told ToI from Bangalore. In an exclusive interview, he then bared his heart on what triggered his ouster.

One of the issues being pointed out by the players was his practice schedules. While Arothe wanted two net sessions per day, the players wanted a single, long, grinding practice session in a day. "You can't allow practice methods to be dictated by the girls. If these girls want to achieve something, they need to come out of their comfort zone. They don't want to do that. The BCCI should not entertain such requests from cricketers (to change the coach)," laments Arothe.

Incidentally, the BCCI had hired Arothe after sacking Purnima Rau as their women's team coach at the behest of the players.

Elaborating further about the practice sessions, he said: "These girls didn't want to come out of the dressing room for a two-and-a-half hour practice session. How would they have trained in a longer, four-hour session," he shoots back, before adding: "I conducted the same kind of camps in South Africa, the World Cup, and in our second trip to SA. How come no one complained about them then? This is an excuse devised by the girls to hide their failures."

He then explains why his second practice session, conducted in the evening, was helping the team improve. "In the evening, I was conducting a 90-minute camp to improve the batting skills of the bowlers. In my stint, in which we played around 18 ODIs, the bowlers helped us to two wins-one of them in the World Cup. Wasn't this valuable to the team?"

He's also disappointed by the manner in which the BCCI, read the CoA, have handled the whole affair. "Why were we (him and players) called separately to sort this out? Everyone should have been called together for this meeting, which should have been held in an open forum. They called the captains of the ODI (Mithali Raj) and the T20 (Harmanpreet Kaur) teams, and a selector (Hemlata Kala) who wasn't even on tour. They should have also called the vice-captain (Smriti Mandhana), Jhulan Goswami, who's a senior player, and the selector (Shashi Gupta) who went to the Asia Cup, and praised my work there. I don't think the girls spoke the truth in the meeting," he fumes.

He was critical of the BCCI's decision to cancel a camp for the women's team just before it left for Sri Lanka. "They had no business to cancel this camp (in Bangalore) which was supposed to be held before the tour to Sri Lanka. Two days before returning from the Asia Cup, I spoke to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) (project director) Toofan Ghosh, and he asked me about the schedule of the camp, and suddenly I learnt (I wasn't even told about it) that it was cancelled," he says.

He then explains why this camp was critical. "In March, the BCCI had asked me about my plans for the World T20 in the West Indies. The details for the camp were charted out by me, Mithali, Harman and Jhulan, and the support staff. It was Mithali, Harman and Jhulan's idea to hold this fitness camp after the Asia Cup. We conducted this 10-12 day fitness camp before July, because it's difficult to hold it later due to rains. Mark my words, the Indian women's team won't have a fitness and fielding camp before going to the World T20. The CoA hasn't realised this and yet they cancelled it without even informing me," he rued.

Arothe reckoned that a few players have become complacent, due to lack of options to replace them. "There's hardly any competition. There are no players in the pipeline, so those in the side, though they are good, have taken their places for granted. Even if they do get dropped, its easy for them to make a comeback."

© TNN

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