Best in the world are at times shown the door: Sourav Ganguly on Mithali Raj's exclusion

Speaking at an event in the city, Ganguly said he was not surprised as he too had undergone such an experience during his career.

When asked about whether he was surprised by Mithali's exclusion, Ganguly said as quoted by News 18, "No! I have also sat out in the dug out after captaining India. When I saw Mithali Raj being dropped, I said 'Welcome to the group."

Even after scoring back-to-back fifties, Mithali did not feature in the Indian team which played the semi-final against England.

The match was eventually lost by the women-in-blue by eight wickets to crash out of the tournament.

Recalling one incident when he was dropped in the middle of a Test series against Pakistan in 2006, the former skipper said as quoted by News 18, "Captains are asked to sit, so just do it. I have done it in Faisalabad. I didn't play an ODI game for 15 months when I was probably the best performer in one-day cricket... It happens in life. The best in the world are at times shown the door."

Ganguly, who was dropped from the national side in 2006 had missed the international cricket for nearly 10 months even after captaining India for five years. 

Meanwhile, Mithali's personal coach R.S.R Murthy lashed out at the Indian team management and captain Harmanpreet Kaur for dropping the veteran cricketer.

Murthy was quoted by Times Now as saying, "Mithali was told after the warm-up session on the morning of the semifinal that she doesn’t figure in the playing eleven, leaving her terribly disappointed.

"Only last night, I spoke to her and she looked mentally and physically geared up. She even hinted that she might not open but would play in the middle-order. I told her just to enjoy batting in any position she gets a chance."

However, Ganguly feels this is not the end of 35-year old Mithali's career.

News 18 quoted the 46-year old former skipper as saying, "You should always remember you're best because you did something and there's an opportunity again. So, I am not too disappointed seeing Mithali being asked to sit out. I have not been disappointed to see the reactions on the ground."

Ganguly, who was dropped initially from the One Day International (ODI) squad and later from Test team during 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons respectively, made a strong comeback in late 2006 in South Africa.

Despite a comeback and a brilliant batting performance for one year, the former skipper was again dropped from the One Day International (ODI) team in early 2008.