Thoroughly enjoyed my tenure with the girls, too much being made of my exit: WV Raman
Days after ending his stint as the head coach of the India Women cricket team, WV Raman has made an effort to clear the air around his sudden departure. Raman on Thursday asserted that he 'thoroughly enjoyed' his 17-month long stint with the team and the controversies that have followed his exit are mostly exaggerations.
Former India off-spinner Ramesh Powar replaced WV Raman as head coach on May 13. Powar previously mentored the team for almost 4 months and failed to get an extension after his infamous fallout with senior batter Mithali Raj.
WV Raman also wrote a controversial letter to BCCI President Sourav Ganguly and National Cricket Academy head Rahul Dravid after his exit. Some bits about the letter were widely reported in the media and it was claimed that he highlighted some major problems about the culture in the team.
WV Raman said he took some of this reporting as recognition of his work but stated that the issue has been stretched a bit too much.
"I thoroughly enjoyed my tenure with the girls. I think there is too much being made out of this exit bit. When I was a player there used to be a group of people selecting the side, sometimes they picked you and sometimes they didn't. I don't really see why this has been going on for too long. Yes, momentarily people could have spoken about it (BCCI replacing him with Romesh Powar). That means people have recognised some good things that happened during my tenure but that should end there," Raman told Sports Today.
He suggested fans should move on and focus on the strengths and upcoming challenges facing the team.
"Everybody should say okay, the time has come for the girls to get on with it. They are embarking on a very long an important tour because England is one of the toughest sides you can get in international cricket. They have the firepower in the batting and bowling departments, they are extremely good at what they do," he added.
"The entire team should forget and get on with it" - WV Raman
Incidentally, WV Raman's tenure with India Women began by replacing Powar in a similarly tense environment. Sharing his experience, he said despite the furor, the girls should forget the past and focus on the job at hand.
"This is exactly what I was telling the girls also when I took over (in 2018) and the controversy erupted, for whatever reasons. It was just being kept up in there and churned without any sort of restraint. It is something that the entire team should forget and get on with it. Even though I might be in the eye of the storm now, whether I want it (the coaching job) or not, I think it should stop now and the team should get on with it. That is where the first step lies, making plans for the World Cup and forget everything that has happened in the past," WV Raman signed off.
India Women are set to embark on an all-format tour of England beginning with a one-off Test on June 16.