Shah Rukh Khan backs Mithali Raj to coach the Indian men’s cricket team

Mithali Raj, the skipper of the Indian women’s team, has simply been phenomenal in her cricketing career. Recently, she led the Indian team to the final of the ICC Women’s World Cup in England. Meanwhile, she also toppled Charlotte Edwards, the former English skipper and current commentator, to emerge as the leading run-scorer in One Day Internationals.

Recently, the Rajasthan-born cricketer attended Shah Rukh Khan’s new show- TED Talks India Nayi Soch- on the first of January. The show will be aired on Star Plus on the 7th of January. During the show, King Khan praised Raj for her commitment towards the game and backed her to coach the Indian men’s team in the future.

Mithali replied that she always wants to give her best shot. “When you are on the field, and everyone is looking up to you and the entire team to bring back the trophy, (then) it is not just about the game. So, it is necessary for us to stay focused… and we all have our own ways to ensure we give our best on the field,” Raj said.

She also talked about her habit of reading books when asked about her book-reading picture that went viral during the World Cup. “I read books to get rid of pressure during a match. It does help me to keep calm and encourage a good performance,” she added

A prolific batswoman

The 34-year-old is the first Indian skipper to lead an Indian team (across men and women) to two World Cup finals- against Australia in 2005 and England in 2017. However, they stumbled to defeats on both occasions. The women prodigy is also the only batswoman to reach 1000 runs in World Cups. After the sterling performances, Mithali and her team, quite deservingly, were showered with praises and appreciations from the cricketing fraternity.