This article is about the lady who nicknamed "Lady Tendulkar of Indian Women's cricket", as she is currently the all-time leading run-scorer for India in all formats, including Tests, ODIs and T20Is
Authored By :- Ashwin Jangam ( Cricket Analyst, Host and Entertainer)
Insta I'd:- cricket_creativity
Whenever we think of women's cricket, the first name which comes to our Mind is Mithali Dorai Raj. The best batter in the world, she is the reason why most of the people started watching women's cricket.
courtesy : ESPN CRIC INFOBeing the youngest centurion in the game, it comes as a shock as becoming a cricketer was not her first dream. She wanted to be a classical dancer. But thanks to her father, who served in the Indian Air force, who motivated his beloved daughter to become a cricketer. Little did he know, that this decision would change the fortune of Indian cricket.
Mithali has achieved almost everything one could dream of, yet she believes her biggest achievement is to motivate a lot of young girls to play the game. The stalwarts of today's team reveal that it was Mithali and her counterpart Jhulan whom they idolised growing up. It was the admiration of her colleagues and juniors which made it possible for Mithali to become a player-coach (a player who plays for the team, and also perform the duties of a coach).
Even today, the queen of cricket continues to play a vital role in the team's success. Having the longest playing career for any player representing India, the stalwart has innumerable records to her name. But despite the records, her hunger to score the runs has not gone down one bit. Just like every cricketer, one-day Mithali will retire. But she will always be remembered as the woman who conquered the cricketing world with her unbelievable skills, and the person responsible for bringing glory to Indian cricket.
Well chosen topic and well written Ashwin Jangam. We often speak less about the amount of influence this stalwart of Indian women's cricket team has bestowed upon the younger generation to choose cricket as a career option. Before 2010s, even die hard Indian cricket lovers rarely followed women's cricket but if someone would ask them to name a women's cricketer, then the first name everyone could remember was - Mitali Raj and this could alone tell the impact this wonder woman had created in this sports. Still its a joy to watch her cover drives when she is on a song. May our lady super star achieve many more milestones ahead.