While men’s sports gripped us firmly and we braced it with open arms making it a phenomenon that it is today; women’s game was still finding it hard to make it to the limelight. To make a certain change to the age-old patterns and notions, many women stepped up, be it the recent achievements of PV Sindhu; Megan Rapinoe with boasting her opinions through her game; or Simona Halep making a legendary finish of Wimbledon against the legend of the grass court herself, Serena Williams; or Mithali Raj, as a captain, creating an opportunity for all women, inspiring many in her time on the crease.
The stalwart for Indian Women’s Cricket, Mithali Raj has given the Indian Women’s team quite a head start, and the rest seems to follow quite well. Debuting with an unbeaten 114 against Ireland at the age of 17, and after that setting off to create many records or break some, as she put the women at front, to contribute for the nation.
However, after 14 years of T20I, she decided to retire from the format as to concentrate more on her ODI career and for the upcoming ICC Women’s World Cup. Controversies started gripping her, when her performance included good amount of runs but consuming too many balls, which in a fast-paced T20 innings came under scanner. The conflict grew between Raj and Ramesh Powar and members of BCCI resulting in her not being included in the T20 World Cup semi-finals. Powar even accused her of ‘blackmailing’ and ‘pressurizing coaches’, which she replied in an emotional tweet.
I'm deeply saddened & hurt by the aspersions cast on me. My commitment to the game & 20yrs of playing for my country.The hard work, sweat, in vain.
— Mithali Raj (@M_Raj03) 29 November 2018
Today, my patriotism doubted, my skill set questioned & all the mud slinging- it's the darkest day of my life. May god give strength
The exclusion of Mithali from the semi-finals went on to raise questions about a supposed rift between she and T20 skipper Haramanpreet Kaur. The decision of retirement came this year, early September. In her own words, ‘After representing India in T20 internationals since 2006, I wish to retire from T20Is to focus my energies on readying myself for the 2021 One Day World Cup. It remains my dream to win a World Cup for my country and I want to give it my best,’ and wished good luck and support to women about to face the South African women in the upcoming series.
