Coach Basnyat ‘hurt’, players ‘shocked’

Kathmandu, November 15

Women’s national cricket team head coach Raju Basnyat today said he was hurt by the accusation of sexual harassment against players during the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier of Asia Region held in Hong Kong last month.

“The blame against me is totally baseless and it hurt me a lot,” said Basnyat during a press meet in the presence of the players.

“I cannot even imagine about such activities and the accusation has tarnished my image badly,” said Basnyat, reacting to media reports.

“The women’s cricket has achieved a new height and some people are just not happy with the results,” said Basnyat without naming any official. “Such heinous activities will push the women’s cricket back.”

Women’s national cricket team skipper Rubina Chhetri said none of the players had filed the complaint and the accusation was not true.

“There is no reality in the accusation and no player has filed any complaint against the coach. The incident hampered our training and we lost the day for nothing,” said Chhetri.

The women’s team is currently preparing for the Asia Cup to be held in Thailand from November 26 to December 4.

Vice-captain Sita Rana Magar and team members Nira Rajopadhyaya,  Nary Thapa and Indu Barma backed their skipper and appealed the media to help in the development of cricket rather than indulging in unnecessary things.

The cricketers, however, accepted that the coach used to scold them on the poor performance.

“The coach is very aggressive and this is the first time we have played under him. But we had sorted out the issue in a team meeting and agreed to move forward,” they said.