Harmanpreet Kaur a ‘manipulative cheat’: Mithali Raj’s manager slams Indian captain

The move of making experienced batswoman Mithali Raj sit out of India’s semi-final match against England in the women’s World T20 didn’t pay dividends and it hasn’t quite gone down well with her manager Annisha Gupta, who attacked Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur and the management for the decision.

In a tweet, Gupta slammed Kaur, calling her, ‘a manipulative, lying, immature, undeserving captain’.

Unfortunately @BCCIWomen believes in politics not sport. After witnessing what @M_Raj03 ‘s experience could do in IndvIre it’s shocking that they went with what pleases @ImHarmanpreet -a manipulative, lying, immature, undeserving captain,” she tweeted shortly after India was shown the door from the World T20I following an eight-wicket loss to England.

Cricket website adds that Gupta called Kaur “manipulative, lying cheat” in another tweet.

Also read: ICC Women’s World T20: England outplay India to set up summit clash with Australia

Confirming to ESPN Cricinfo the fact that the unverified account from where the tweets were posted belonged to her, she said, ““I’d like to say that I don’t know what is going on the inside but now that the matches are being telecast, we can see who is performing and who is not.

And we can see the kind of treatment that Mithali has received despite her brilliant performance and despite showing stability and consistency. The kind of treatment she has received is completely uncalled for and there is something deeper than we need to look at than just the statements that have been coming out.

“There are statements coming out that they wanted to give younger cricketers a chance, but you don’t drop your senior-most, most experienced players in a semifinal against a country like England. It goes beyond giving the youngsters a chance,” she added further.

Alleging favouritism within the Indian team, she also said,  “Maybe I was a little angry, but I think it comes from the right place because I don’t stand for unfair treatment. The kind of favouritism that has been shown is very apparent. I think everybody can see the kind of favouritism that is being shown to certain members of the team.”