I am happy with the way that I’ve been scoring runs: Mithali Raj

Indian captain Mithali Raj will be making her record sixth World Cup appearance when she appears in the 2022 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup. The Women’s World Cup will start on March four, with the final match to be played on April three. India will play their first match of the tournament against arch-rivals Pakistan on March six.

The 39-year old batter has represented India in 225 ODIs and has scored more than 7,600 runs at an average of 51.85. Raj also has 62 fifties and seven centuries under her belt with the highest score of 125 runs against Sri Lanka. With her loads of experience at World Cups, the Indian captain has been guiding players who are set to make their debut at the tournament.

Although Team India lost the recently concluded ODI series against New Zealand by a margin of 1-4, most of the games were close contests with individual performances by home side players making the difference. However, skipper Mithali Raj was the second leading run-scorer in the ODI series making 235 runs in five innings at an average of 78.33.  The batter will look to carry her good form in the upcoming tournament as India look to clinch their maiden Women’s Cricket World Cup.

We’ve tried some young talent in the squad: Mithali Raj

“The talent that we’ve got in the last year, we’ve tried some young talent in the squad, and most of them have shown that they have the ability to play at this level like Richa Ghosh, Shafali Verma, we have Meghna Singh in the seamers, Pooja Vastrakar. They all have been given good game time and those series have really helped them and me as a captain to find out where they fit in into the composition of the team,” Raj was quoted by Times of India.

“As far as me personally, I am happy with the way that I’ve been scoring runs, and I would love to continue the form into the World Cup,” she added.

“The young talent in the side today, I tell them that you don’t have the experience of the past World Cups, so it’s a clean slate for you, all you have to do is enjoy the big stage. The only advice I would tell the young players is to enjoy the big stage because if you pile up the pressure you may not be playing the best that the team and you would want to do in the World Cup,” she added.