Are we really a cricket-obsessed nation where we treat this game as religion to an extent, yes but the eyeballs have never been the same when it comes to women’s cricket and the answer is pretty simple- we don’t know.
Amid all the talks of organizing a full-fledged women’s IPL finally, BCCI is all set to organize the full version of the marquee event from next year onwards, and let’s see if that happens with six teams in plan and whether it will benefit women’s cricket or not only time will tell.
Let’s not focus our conversation in that direction instead talk about the legend who recently retired from all forms of the game via a simple post don’t you think she deserve the farewell match however at the end it is the call of the player and someone who has served Women in Blue for 23 years certainly knows the perfect time to hang her boots.
I am talking about none other than Mithali Raj, the highest run-scorer for India in Women’s ODI with 7,805 runs at a staggering average of 50.68 where she scored 7 centuries and 64 half centuries with highest score of unbeaten 125 runs.
Her record in T20 International is also fantastic where she has amassed 2,364 runs at an average of 37.52.
As India plays less number of Test matches, she has still managed to score 699 runs at an average of 43.68.
Making her ODI debut for India in the year 1999, against Ireland at Milton Keynes and scoring unbeaten knock of 114 runs there has been no looking back since then she has captained India across numerous world cups and the best result came in 50 over world cup in 2017 where they finished as runners up against England who defeated women in blue with a narrow margin of 9 runs.
Yesterday when she announced her retirement via a social media post there was a void created which will be hard to fill for next generation of women players for someone like me who does watch women’s cricket regularly, it will be difficult to image women’s team batting without legend Mithali Raj.
Thank you for all your love & support over the years!
I look forward to my 2nd innings with your blessing and support. pic.twitter.com/OkPUICcU4u— Mithali Raj (@M_Raj03) June 8, 2022
Mithali Raj & Jhulan Goswami’s contribution towards women’s cricket has been phenomenal and the youngster have to live upto the expectations and mammoth record created by Raj in years to come. It won’t be easy for them.
That’s why the heading to I choose to write for this article “Why Indian Women’s cricket will never produce legendary player like Mithali Raj”
Also Read: IPL 2022: IPL men’s tournament is expanding, what about women’s IPL?
