"The second Greg Chappell" - Fans slam BCCI for replacing WV Raman with Ramesh Powar

The Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) decision to appoint Ramesh Powar as head coach of the Indian women's team hasn't gone down well with fans.

Questions have been raised against the departure of WV Raman, under whom the team made a runners-up finish in the 2020 T20 World Cup and won bilateral series against West Indies and South Africa.

Ramesh Powar is an ex-Indian off-spinner who played two Tests and 31 ODIs for the country. He previously held the head coach post from August-December 2018.

However, that tenure was marred by a controversial fallout with the team's senior-most batter, Mithali Raj.

Raj and Ramesh Powar exchanged accusations for weeks after India lost in the semi-finals of the 2018 T20 World Cup under the latter's tutelage.

Raj had blamed her coach of 'bias' for leaving her out of the team in the semi-final. In return, Powar hit back by calling Raj 'aloof' and 'difficult to handle'.

As reported earlier by Sportskeeda, 36 candidates had applied for the head coach position out of which eight were shortlisted, including WV Raman and four women candidates.

The BCCI's Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), led by former cricketer Madan Lal, found Ramesh Powar to be best suited for the role.

Fans baffled by BCCI's decision to replace WV Raman with Ramesh Powar

Fans on Twitter found the decision perplexing, considering WV Raman's decent record with the team.

Some of them even compared Ramesh Powar to former Indian men's head coach Greg Chappell, who was involved in many controversies with senior players like Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.

Due to Ramesh Powar,last time there was lot of dispute between Senior players in the team..Then Y again reappoint him as Coach ?? W V Raman was doing excellent job .. Appointment of Powar ,will take Indian Women's Cricket backwards only...

— Arun Anandh (@ArunBala2013) May 13, 2021

@BCCI @BCCIWomen @SGanguly99 for godsake y u keep doing same mistake again n again.Getting Ramesh Powar back 2 helm after fallout between players n him s byond understanding. Y WV Raman s ignored every time wen he's has done superb job with women's team #wakeupBCCI #sackPowar

— PraJyot Rewatkar (@PraJyot_HR) May 13, 2021

WV Raman was fine then why Powar is back?

— Mukund Agarwal (@RealMukundA) May 13, 2021

WV Raman : Anil Kumble : : Ramesh Powar : Ravi Shastri ?

— Sekhar Sridhar (@noise_segar) May 13, 2021

Ramesh Powar back as India women's cricket team coach. What wrong did WV Raman do? Finishing runners-up in WT20 final can't be treated as failure

— Atreyo Mukhopadhyay (@atreyom) May 13, 2021

This is embarrassment for WV RAMAN...! This team did good till now under WV Raman, no idea why they are going back to Powar..!

— Gopal (@gopal2709) May 13, 2021

Powar had some tiff with the players in his earlier stint, was there no one else for this Role or Women Cricket hai to Chalta hai ?@BCCIWomen @BCCI

— Dhruba Jyoti Goswami (@DJ3471) May 13, 2021

@BCCIWomen # very wrong decision to appoint Romesh powar as coach of national womens cricket team. There is something doshi about it. Please enquire it.

— ajay govind prasad (@ajaygovindpras2) May 13, 2021

We have but Lord powar >>>>>> all other coaches 😂

— Sairam (@sairam8485) May 13, 2021

Why again. He is a cheap man. Why not we ask Dravid Lakhman to be in this post.?He is the second Greg Chappel. Can BCCI explain what qualitiy powar has

— debasish mohanty (@debasis03503851) May 13, 2021

Not sure making Ramesh Powar as Head coach of Indian women’s cricket team is a good decision.

— Raghav soni (@MUFC_RaghavSoni) May 13, 2021

More Powar to women's cricket in India@imrameshpowar @BCCIWomen #RameshPowar

— Anand Datla (@SportaSmile) May 13, 2021

They have forgotten about the huge rifts between Powar and Mithali Raj. Back to the dumps. Disappointing.

— Lloyd Peters (@lloydcpeters) May 13, 2021

How come Ramesh Powar get into the short list & got selected?? pic.twitter.com/kuwju2d0gY

— Dinesh :): (@social_dinesh) May 13, 2021

Mithali & Powar. Nice combo! Lots of drama ahead :)

— srikrishna 🏏 (@1998Srikrishna) May 13, 2021

My point why did u remove a coach like Romesh Powar at first go just because a cricketer asked the committee to remove him so I made a first mistake and then u appoint him again to come over your mistake

— Prashant Satpute (@prashantbandya) May 13, 2021

All the money in the world and they appoint Powar

— rajeev.t (@rajt2510) May 13, 2021

WV Raman congratulates Ramesh Powar

However, WV Raman congratulated Ramesh Powar after the announcement, saying he was looking forward to seeing the team 'soar' under his guidance.

"All the best @imrameshpowar with the @BCCIWomen in this spell.. Look forward to seeing the girls soar under your guidance," Raman tweeted.

Powar's first assignment with the team will be their all-format tour of England, which begins with a one-off Test match on June 16.