ICC Women's World Cup 2017: Focus should be on Women cricketers in a Women's tournament, says Mithali Raj
What’s the story?
A day after slamming a reporter for asking her about her favourite male cricketer, Indian captain Mithali Raj cleared the air around her fiery response to the question.
“I didn’t intend to be rude. It just came straight from my heart. This is a stage for women’s cricket – it’s the Women’s Cricket World Cup. So, why would you not give a woman player more importance? This is our stage, our platform. Why do you have to talk about men’s cricket? The questionnaire should be around women’s cricket, and not men’s cricket, which I am sure you all do when you cover men’s cricket,” she said.
The 34-year-old is one of the veterans of the Indian team and will be crucial for her team’s chances of getting the trophy. However, the Indian skipper wants to focus on enjoying herself throughout the tournament.
“Usually people say it’s your last World Cup, so you should end on a high. I don’t believe in that. It’s an opportunity for me to be myself, express myself, and enjoy the kind of experience the World Cup carries. I probably won’t be a part of it in the next edition. I will try to enjoy it as much as I can and carry a lot of memories – good or bad, it doesn’t matter to me,” she added.
Also read: Full schedule of the ICC Women’s World Cup
In case you didn't know...
The ICC Women’s World Cup will hit the floor today (June 24), with two matches scheduled to be played on the day. While New Zealand will take on Sri Lanka at Bristol, India will play against hosts England in Derbyshire.
The India-England will be broadcast live on TV, and will be the first match in the history of women’s cricket to make use of the DRS.
Also read: DRS to be used for the first time in women’s cricket
The details
Raj, playing in her fifth World Cup, is no alien to the pressure that it brings to the team. Talking about the same, she said that she has guided the youngsters of the team to soak the pressure so as to play with freedom.
What next?
India will hope to start well against England at the County Ground in Derby today. The team has a mix of veterans and youngsters, and has the capability to go deep in the competition.
Their next match will be against West Indies on June 29, followed by an encounter against arch-rivals Pakistan two days later.
Author’s take
The Indian captain is absolutely right with respect to her response to the journalist’s question. Not only the women’s teams but also ICC are trying hard to increase the popularity of women’s cricket as a whole. That can only happen if it is considered to be a separate entity from men’s cricket, and focusing on just women cricketers in a Women’s cricket World Cup is an essential step in that direction.