"Do you want to be the Mithali Raj of Australian team?" - Nicole Bolton makes shocking claim about former coach’s brutal dig at Indian legend
Australia women's batter Nicole Bolton has claimed that former coach Cathryn Fitzpatrick took a brutal dig at Indian legend Mithali Raj during one of their conversations when both were part of the national side. According to Bolton, Fitzpatrick asked her if she wanted to be the 'Mithali Raj of the Australian team' - someone who bats at a strike rate of '50' and scores '100 off 150 balls'.
Fitzpatrick is a former Australian fast bowler and coach. She was renowned as the world's fastest bowler in women's cricket during her playing days and picked up 60 wickets in 13 Tests and 180 in 109 ODIs.
On Friday, July 26, cricket.com.au shared a clip of a podcast featuring Bolton. In the video, she is heard recalling a conversation with Fitzpatrick when the latter was the coach of the Australian team. Bolton claimed that Fitzpatrick questioned her skills and compared them to Mithali, who she felt batted too slowly.
"I was playing for Australia as well, and I was playing under Cathryn Fitzpatrick and I think for so long I was just trying to impress her. I was just trying to get her to see me. And I just remember she called me in her office to have a chat. And she was like, 'Do you honestly want to be the Mithali Raj of the Australian cricket team?" Bolton said in the podcast.
Sharing more details of the conversation, the 35-year-old continued:
"And I was like, 'Mithali Raj?' She's like, 'Yeah. Do you honestly want to strike at 50? It's okay if you get a 100, but the team still loses or you get 100 off 150 balls?' And I was like, whoa, this is how Cathryn Fitzpatrick sees me? I was like, that's not good at all. If this is how she sees me, my career is going to be pretty short lived."
For the record, Bolton played three Tests, 50 ODIs, and two T20Is for Australia between 2014 and 2019. She scored 1896 runs in one-dayers at an average of 41.21, with four hundreds and 12 fifties.
Mithali Raj's record in international cricket
Widely recognized as one of the greats of women's cricket, Mithali represented India in 12 Tests, 232 ODIs, and 89 T20Is. The former India captain scored 7805 runs in one-dayers at an average of 50.68, with seven tons and 64 half-centuries.
In T20Is, the 41-year-old scored 2364 runs at an average of 37.52, with 17 fifties. Mithali ended her Test career with 699 runs at an average of 43.68. Her stats include one hundred and four fifties.