Mithali Raj's autobiography announced

“Mithali Raj”. Her role has been pivotal for what Indian women’s cricket is achieving now.

 

She stands as a role model to all the budding cricketers in and around the world. She has been a cricketer with integrity, passion and might be regarded as the coolest captain of all times. Her efforts were tremendous, right from the age of 16 when she represented the national side, for now, and she never looked back.

 

Her major focus was to give Indian women’s cricket the limelight it deserves, which was denied from the very beginning. She is a proud campaigner for women’s cricket and individual independence, may it be financially or to make decisions individually.

 

Her story started when she was raised in a family with a defense background. She claims that to overcome her laziness, she was forced to join cricket training alongside her brother.

 

After few years of stiff training, she had to make a choice between cricket as a career and her favorite activity of dancing. From then started the journey of international class player who is now the World’s highest scorer of runs in women’s cricket.

 

Raj represents Railways in domestic season in India. She made her debut in 1999 representing India. On her debut, she is the only female cricketer to score a ton, which fascinated many critics and prompted many to say that she would take women’s cricket to great heights. Though she could not be in the squad for 2002 World cup, she led the team to their 1st world cup final in 2005.

 

After 12 years, the captain again led the team into their 2nd world cup final. With the media coverage and much hype, the team finally got their much-awaited recognition. People started identifying women cricketers and their skills too.

 

About her game; her sweep shots and her planning and timing of her every single ball, is admirable, as is her practice of keeping herself focused and calm during pressure situations.

 

She single-handedly bore the pressure of carrying India through on her shoulders, till new promising batswomen emerged like Harmanpreet Kaur, Punam Raut, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, and Veda Krishnamurthy.

 

Her record for being the first player in women’s cricket to score seven consecutive 50’s in ODI matches is astounding. The legendary cricketer has the best batting average of over 50 in both ODI and test matches. The consistency with which she goes to bat with such composure is making the Indian team prominent among the world countries and is such a treat to watch.

 

Her leadership skills have brought the underdogs of the game to a position which the world countries are in awe of. She has been awarded the Arjuna award and Padma Shri for her contribution to cricket.

 

Though women’s cricket has not been recognized on par with the men, she broke several barriers; like going against rigid patriarchy system in the country, believing in her passion despite the odds not going in her favour. Right step in this direction is that her biopic also has been announced.

 

Thank you, Mithali Dorai Raj, for showing what World class cricket is all about and that temperament and discipline by which you organize everything will continue to be an inspiration for many. Keep rising.