For long, Mithali Raj has been a quiet performer, diligently pursuing her passion – cricket. And, on Saturday evening, this 31-year-old led the country to only its fourth-ever Test win when they defeated England by six wickets at Wormsley in the one-off Test.
“This great Test win, which honestly I was not expecting when we left for the England tour, should ensure greater recognition and respect for women cricketers,” says Mithali over the phone from England.
“Being part of two of India’s wins (of the only four India won) is definitely a great feeling. But this one is more special than the Taunton win last time around for the simple reason that we were playing a Test after a gap of eight years,” the happy Indian captain points out.
In a way, Mithali completes the formidable list of outstanding women sportspersons from Hyderabad– Sania Mirza (tennis), Saina Nehwal, Jwala Gutta, P.V. Sindhu (badminton), Nikhat Zareen (boxing) and Mithali (cricket).
Going by the statistics too, Mithali leaves her contemporaries far behind – averaging 52.16 in the nine Tests and 50.43 in the 148 ODIs she played since 2002.
“I am honoured to lead India to this great win and I must thank my parents, coach RSR Murthy (SCR) and John Manoj sir (whenever she is in the city she trains at the St. John’s Foundation) for having so much faith in me,” Mithali remarks.
“This is the kind of performance which will obviously make us all (the entire Indian team which has interestingly eight Test debutants against England in that great win) dream big. It’s a great motivator for every one of us. The winning feeling is something totally different,” she says.
Former India batting great V.V.S. Laxman was one of the first to tweet what he felt was a “very significant win” and congratulated Mithali.
