Mithali Raj calls Diana Edulji biased, says was humiliated by coach Powar at World T20
New Delhi, Nov 27 : Senior Indian woman cricketer and ODI captain Mithali Raj Tuesday lashed out at Committee of Administrators' member Diana Edulji and coach Ramesh Powar, saying a "few people in power are out to destroy me".
Breaking her silence on the omission from the World T20 semifinal against England that raised quite a few eyebrows after India's eight-wicket loss, Mithali alleged that Edulji, who had backed her axing, "used her position against me".
The 35-year-old was dropped despite scoring back-to-back fifties in the group stage of the competition held in the West Indies.
"For the first time in a 20 year long career, I felt deflated, depressed and let down. I am forced to think if my services to my country are of any value to a few people in power who are out to destroy me and break my confidence," she wrote in a letter to BCCI CEO Rahul Johri and Cricket Operations GM Saba Karim.
"I would also like to point out that I have nothing against the T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur except for the fact that her call to support the decision of the coach to leave me out of the eleven was baffling and hurtful.
"I wanted to win the world cup for my country and it hurts me because we lost a golden opportunity."
She slammed Edulji, a former India captain, for defending the team's decision to drop her.
"To put things in perspective, I have always reposed faith in Diana Edulji and have always respected her and her position as a member of the COA, Never did I think she will use her position against me, more after hearing what all I had to go through in the Caribbean as I had spoken to her about it .
"Her brazen support in the press with regard to the decision of my benching in the semifinal of the T20 World Cup has left me deeply distressed, more because she knows the real facts having spoken to me."
On Powar, she narrated a series of instances where she felt slighted by the coach.
"For instance, walking off if I am sitting anywhere around, watching in the nets when others bat but choosing to walk away when I am batting in nets, if I try to go up to him to talk to start looking into his phone and keep walking.
"It was embarrassing and very evident to everyone that I was being humiliated. Yet I never lost my cool," she said.
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Gulmarg terror attack: Two soldiers succumb to injuries, toll rises to four
Srinagar (PTI): Two soldiers who were critically wounded in Thursday's terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Gulmarg succumbed to their injuries, raising the death toll in the ambush to four.
Two Army porters died on Thursday while another porter and a soldier were injured.
Terrorists attacked a vehicle of the force six kilometres from tourist hotspot Gulmarg in north Kashmir's Baramulla district, officials said on Thursday.
They had said the terrorists opened fire on the Army vehicle in the Bota Pathri area in the evening when it was headed for the Nagin post in the Afrawat range.
Confirming the deaths of the two porters, the officials had said the condition of two of the injured soldiers was critical.
They had said the soldiers in the vehicle opened retaliatory fire when they came under attack.
The area is completely dominated by the Army and there were reports recently that a terrorist group had infiltrated during early summer and taken shelter in the higher reaches of the Afrawat range, they said.
The Bota Pathri area was recently opened to tourists.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the recent spate of attacks in the Valley was a matter of serious concern.
"Very unfortunate news about the attack on the Army vehicles in the Bota Pathri area of north Kashmir, which has resulted in some casualties and injuries. This recent spate of attacks in Kashmir is a matter of serious concern," he said in a post on X.
"I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms and send my condolences to the loved ones of the people who lost their lives. I also pray that the injured make a complete and swift recovery," he added.
Former chief minister and People's Democratic Party supremo Mehbooba Mufti also condemned the attack.
The BJP's Jammu and Kashmir president Ravinder Raina, meanwhile, condemned the attack and blamed Pakistan for trying to destabilise peace and tranquillity in the Union Territory.
The attack came amid a spike in terror incidents in the Valley.
In another deadly attack on Sunday, six non-local labourers and a local doctor were killed when terrorists fired indiscriminately upon them at the Z-Morh tunnel construction site in the Gagangir area of central Kashmir's Ganderbal district.
Before that, a labourer from Bihar was shot dead by terrorists in Shopian district on October 18.
Earlier on Thursday, terrorists shot at and injured a labourer from Uttar Pradesh in the Tral area of Pulwama district.
