Mithali Raj “The Lady Tendulkar of Indian cricket” announce her retirement from all formats of international cricket on Wednesday. The retirement of Mithali Raj became ‘Hot topic of the Nation’ and went viral all over the media.
We at Avaaz24 curated some information on her inspiring and soothing cricketing journey.
Mithali Dorai Raj (Mithali Raj) was born on 3rd December 1982 in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. She started playing cricket at the age of 10 and joined the Indian women’s national cricket team in the year 1999.
Mithali is the highest run scorer in women’s international cricket team and considered as one of the greatest women cricketer in the history of cricket. She first captained the Indian women’s cricket team in 2004 and became permanent captain in 2005.
Mithali Raj’s role is no less than a revolutionary in the world of women’s cricket in India. She was an inspiration to many girls across the country, who aspired to be cricketers. Her achievements and the mark she has made for herself is commendable. In a country , where women’s cricket was not given much of an importance, it takes sheer guts to take cricket as a profession.
On 8 June 2022, Wednesday she announced her retirement from all forms of international cricket. Mithali Raj led India to a famous test win in international cricket. Her decision to retire was an expected decision.
Career of Mithali Raj
Right from the beginning, Mithali Raj had the zeal and determination to excel in the sport that has made her a role-model to many youngsters. This 39-year old player hails from Hyderabad. Mithali was a right-handed batter. She had a very successful career,one which she held many records to herself. She had a long career as a cricketer. With many awards and rewards, her career was going great guns.
Off late, her career started to crumble after her rift with her coach. Things turned from bad to worse. She had few off-field and on-field incidents which brought the sourness in her career. Since then, her retirement was much awaited. Her failure in the World Cup 2022 confirmed her retirement.
However, she will be remembered for her stylish batting which made her the most successful batters among the men and women.
Lady Sachin
Mithali Raj started her career when she was 16 years old, much like Sachin Tendulkar. Her style of batting, footwork helped her reach new heights. She struck an unbeaten hundred in her first ODI. There was no looking back for her for 23 years. She is an amazing bharatanatyam dancer too.
Mithali Raj had an original style and never copied anyone, which made her unique on-field.
Rise and Fall Of Mithali
Mithali rose to fame when she scored massive 214 in the test against England in August 2002. Later on, she became the captain of the women’s cricket team. In 2005, when Mithali was the captain, she led India to the final of the World Cup. Unfortunately, India finished second in the tournament. However, this changed the value of women’s cricket in India, which even turned as an achievement for her too.
High expectations
After 2005, there were high expectations from the women’s cricket team. But it didn’t turn up as expected. There were changes in the administration. Instead of improving the game, everything started to dry away. No opportunities came their way. So as the opportunities reduced, the performance of the players reduced. It was said that though Mithali played a key role in bringing the women’s team to international level, few things went wrong. India slipped from its top position.
Fought back
However, Mithali did not give up. She fought back. Fortunately, the Supreme Court appointed the Committee of Administrators (CoA). In addition to that a former India player Diana Edulji got involved, the women’s game received renewed attention. Things turned for good during the 2017 World Cup when India reached the final for the second time under the captaincy of Mithalij in England.
The other women cricketers in the side, like Harmanpreet Kaur, also came to help her around this time, alongside Smriti Mandhana easing the pressure on Raj. However, even in the 2017 final, the result was the same as India lost to host England.
Many incidents
When T20 was introduced, things seemed to become worse for Mithali. She could not score well in this new format and hence pressure mounted on her. She then stepped down from her captaincy. Soon after, she was not included in the T20 World Cup semi-final. The ugly turn around of incidents made her step down from T20 cricket.
Consequently, there were allegations, rifts etc which worsened the atmosphere of the board and the team.
After global COVID-19, the team failed completely which was due to poor batting of the team and even her performance was not at all good.
Conclusion
However, for a cricketer with so many batting records to her name, the BCCI could have given her a better farewell. But after all the controversies it was too much to expect.
Hopefully, she continues to in-fire the young cricketers.
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