Former Australia all-rounder Lisa Sthalekar has slammed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for their treatment of Veda Krishnamurthy. The Indian batter, who hasn’t been named in the squad for the England series, recently lost her mother and sister to COVID-19. Krishnamurthy, who was part of the 2020 T20 World Cup squad, hasn’t played an international fixture since then.
Sthalekar, in her tweet, wrote that she is angered by no communication from the BCCI, despite Krishnamurthy being a contracted player. “Whilst not selecting Veda for the upcoming series maybe justified from their point of view, what angers me the most is that as a contracted player she has not received a communication from the BCCI, just to even check how she is coping,” Sthalekar wrote on Twitter.
“A true association must deeply care about its players and not focus solely on just the game at any cost. So disappointed. As a past player the ACA has reached out daily to see how we are and provided all kinds of service. If there was a need for player association in India it is surely now. The stress, anxiety, fear and grief that many players have experienced through this pandemic will take its toll on them as individual and inadvertently affect the game.”
Her tweet came amid the ongoing controversy in women’s cricket. A few days back, the BCCI replaced WV Raman with Ramesh Powar as the head coach of the team. As per PTI, Raman has written a letter to the BCCI, where he has urged to end the prima donna culture in the team.
After the team selection, a report in Times of India suggested that the BCCI oversaw the selection process, which took place yesterday (May 14). Team India is scheduled to tour England for a full-fledged series next month.
As for Krishnamurthy, she can make a return to the national team on the basis of her performances in domestic cricket. A senior member of the national team, Krishnamurthy has played 48 ODIs and 76 T20Is. She was part of the World Cup team which qualified for the final of the ICC event in 2017.
