Happy to see teammates getting adulation: Mithali Raj

Mithali Raj has been representing the Indian Women’s team ever since 1999 but the number of accolades, rewards and recognition she has been receiving after their run in the recently concluded Women’s World Cup is by far the best during her career. The proud skipper of the Indian Women’s team is happy about the way her team-mates are gaining star status after the tournament especially the younger players.

She is proud of the courageous effort her team put up in England and that makes her feel all that is following now, is well deserved. The Indian team wasn’t really given a chance leading into the tournament and when they eventually qualified for the summit clash, the tag ‘dark horses’ was attached to the name.

“I am extremely proud of the girls and also feel they deserve to get the adulation that they have got. The fans have been amazing and thanks to social media, they are definitely names to reckon with,” said the Indian Women’s team skipper.”

Worried since there are no matches scheduled

At the same time, Mithali is worried since there are no future matches and series scheduled for the team.

“It would be nice to have a cricket calendar for the team wherein we know who we are playing next and which is the next tournament or bilateral tie for us. It does get difficult to prepare just days before a tournament without having an idea of the future. The BCCI has done a praiseworthy job ever since women’s cricket came under its wings and providing an insight on what the future holds and having a cricket calendar for the women would be like an icing on the cake,” she added.

Though many of the seniors in her team have interacted with the Indian men’s players in past, Mithali said that the Virat Kohli & Co’s gesture to wish them before the final was a surprise and also served as a big boost for the youngsters.

“See, the likes of Jhulan (Goswami) and me have often met the male stars and interacted with them. In fact, they have also often spoken about how they stand by us. But for Kohli and Shastri to send a message from Sri Lanka and for Dhoni to send in a video egging us on was a big boost for the young girls. You have to understand that they have grown up idolising these cricketers. It is a big thing for them,” she said speaking to CricketNext.

Suspense over retirement

While Mithali earlier announced that the 2017 Women’s World Cup will be last, she now says that her aim currently is to ensure her side’s automatic qualification for the next edition of the mega event, unlike this time where they had to play qualifiers to get into the main tournament.

“Right now, the focus is to keep the good work going and ensure that we automatically qualify for the next World Cup. To have finished runners-up and then having to play the qualifiers would be sad. We have set a benchmark and that needs to be maintained. For me, that is the goal over the next two years. And yes, quite a few people have asked me to continue till the next World Cup, but I would be surprised myself if I can manage that,” she signed off maintaining suspense over her retirement.