My shoe's spike got stuck in the pitch, says Mithali Raj on her dismissal in 2017 Women's World Cup final
What's the story?
Apart from Veda Krishnamurthy's loose shot in India's defeat against England in the finals of the 2017 Women's World Cup, another dismissal that came under the scanner was that of skipper Mithali Raj. Mithali was run-out for 17 off 31 balls and there were speculations on-air by the commentators, and the fans on social media, that Mithali had given up without trying to make her ground at the striker's end.
But the Indian skipper rubbished such speculation and revealed that her spikes got stuck in the pitch when she took off for the run and that was why she couldn't push herself hard in a bid to complete the run.
"I saw some weird stuff written about my run-out on social media. Actually, what happened was my spike got stuck on the pitch. Punam [Raut] called me for a run and I responded. Before I reached the half way, this thing [spike getting stuck] happened, and I don't think the TV cameras captured it. I couldn't push myself hard and couldn't even make an effort to dive. I was helpless. I was gutted," Mithali said.
In case you didn't know...
Chasing 229 to win the 2017 ICC Women's World Cup, the Indian women fell nine runs short of the total. The Indian Eves were cruising towards a win at 191/3 in the 43rd over. But, a middle order collapse ensured that England edged ahead of India in the game and won the title for the fourth time.
Extra cover: A combined XI of India's men's and women's cricket teams
The details
After losing the wicket of Smriti Mandhana early, opener Punam Raut and Mithali got things back on track with a 28-run partnership for the second wicket before Mithali was run out for 17.
Punam nudged the ball towards the short midwicket fielder and took off for a quick single, to which Mithali responded without any hesitation. The fielder, Nattie Sciver, collected the ball and threw it to the wicketkeeper, Sarah Taylor, who didn't make any mistake in whipping the bails off with Mithali well short of the crease.
Extra cover: 5 things that went wrong for the Indian eves
After the Indian skipper's wicket, Punam put on 95 and 53-run partnerships with Harmanpreet Kaur and Veda Krishnamurthy, respectively. After the wicket of Punam in the 43rd over, India lost their last seven wickets for just 28 runs and gifted England the championship.
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Author's take
On television, it was clearly visible that Mithali didn't make any effort to complete the run and that sparked a lot of controversy. But questioning the commitment (without knowing what happened in the middle) of someone who has successfully played for the country for 18 years is nothing short of disrespectful.
Extra cover: It wasn't a World Cup final