New Delhi: Veteran Indian women cricketer and former Committee of Administrators (CoA) member Diana Edulji on Thursday applauded the newly-elected BCCI office-bearers for coming to the rescue of Indian women cricketers. Mithali Raj-led Team India were stranded in the West Indies without any allowance.
Speaking to a news agency, Edulji said that it was commendable on the part of the Sourav Ganguly-led team to jump to the rescue of the Indian eves who were sent for the series without daily allowance.
"The office-bearers have done a commendable job and their prompt action shows that they mean business. Them coming to the rescue of the girls in the West Indies is indeed worth applauding," she said.
Sent to the West Indies for a three-ODI and five-T20I series without any daily allowance (DA), the Indian women's cricket team was put in a fix before the new office-bearers of the BCCI swung into action and got the DA transferred to the accounts of Mithali Raj and other team members.
While GM Cricket Operations and women's cricket in-charge Saba Karim's approach saw the girls leaving without any DA, the new office-bearers after taking charge ensured that the problem was solved at the earliest and the money was transferred on Wednesday.
Speaking to a news agency, a BCCI functionary said that the financial process started under the Committee of Administrators (CoA) around September 18 and Karim was also sent the initial mail for approval around September 23. Despite that, there was no development on the matter till October 24.
"For all the talks of process and smooth sailing under the CoA, we have a scenario where the girls were in a foreign land without cash. Who is responsible? If the whole process was started by the finance people as early as on September 18, why did the completion of documentation take till October 24? Had it not been for the promptness shown by the new office-bearers, we would have seen the girls struggling without allowance," the functionary said.
Another functionary questioned why there was no development in the matter despite Karim being sent repeated mails to seek approval in the process.
"If my calculation is right, Karim was sent the first mail for approval on September 23. The reminder was sent on September 25. A second reminder had to be sent to him on October 24 when he finally sent an email to the CFO for approval. Is this the kind of professional set-up that the CoA time and again spoke of," the functionary questioned.
This isn't the first time that Karim has been caught napping when it comes to women's cricket. Questions were raised when it came to the handling of the process of selection of support staff for the women's team as well.
But to keep the Indian women cricketers stranded on foreign soil is surely something that could have been avoided.
