Almost a fortnight after he was appointed as the coach of the Indian women’s team, WV Raman’s case continues to hang in limbo. The reason: Diana Edulji continues to oppose the appointment. Soon after the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the BCCI Santosh Rangnekar sent a mail to Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) asking for their approval with regards to approval of the professional fee to be given to the newly appointed coach, CoA head Rai wrote to his colleague Edulji to approve Raman’s contract.
Edulji’s reply to Rai, though, highlights the increasing discord in the two-member CoA. In a strongly-worded mail to the CoA chief, Edulji reminded Rai about how the timelines were extended by the BCCI to appoint Ravi Shastri as head coach of the Indian men’s team last year, and questioned why the same couldn’t have been done in the case of the women’s team too.
The former India women’s captain wants Raman to be sent to New Zealand as the interim coach, and for the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) to pick the new coach. Edulji has sent a copy of her mail to the BCCI office-bearers, the BCCI’s professional team and the Amicus Curiae Gopal Subramanium.
“The CEO & yourself in the past had changed/extended timelines for an individual who eventually became the head coach of men’s team, then how is it that you have suddenly found it difficult to give time to CAC which comprises of great legends the country has known (Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman) or extend the contract of the coach Ramesh Powar.
Please recall the time when the men’s team went without a coach to West Indies and late Sridhar was asked to be with the team, as timelines were extended and CAC was allowed to complete its process of selecting a coach,” she wrote to Rai.
“If the CEO, CFO and GM Cricket Operations in charge of women’s cricket do issue a new contract, then they will be liable for financial damages to the BCCI,” she further wrote.
