Mithali Raj, a women’s cricket great, believes that women cricketers can benefit a lot from having conversations with their male counterparts.
Mithali, a former India Women captain, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the BCCI Naman Awards, which was held on Sunday.
Acknowledging the fact that she drew inspiration from male cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid during her playing career, Mithali said: “Women’s cricket had its own journey, so did men’s cricket. But we’ve taken a lot of inspiration from the men’s cricketers.
“I’ve taken inspiration from Rahul and Sachin because whenever I’ve bumped into them, they’ve always had a lot to chat about, about batting and the advice and suggestions really worked for me when I was playing.
“This interaction between the men and women, I think, helps women cricketers greatly because we’re always trying to catch up with the standards of men’s cricket. In that context, both of them have been doing well,” Mithali observed.
The 43-year-old said watching Indian cricket dominate the global stage was something she had always dreamt of.
“For the longest time, I wanted Indian cricket to dominate and the time has come.
“The last two-three years, Indian cricket — men, women and the under-19 girls or boys — they’ve been doing immensely well. It’s a proud moment as a former cricketer to see the growth of Indian cricket,” she said.
Mithali credited former BCCI secretary and current ICC chief Jay Shah for playing a key role in the transformation of Indian cricket, particularly the women’s game.
“I have seen the evolution of women’s cricket and I need to acknowledge the support of BCCI and Jay Sir.
“In the last four-five years, there has been a huge transformation of the Indian women’s cricket team and that is because of that one person.
“His vision and commitment towards it...globally also he has put in so much effort to enhance and promote women’s cricket’s profile. It shows that he is a visionary and committed to the cause,” she said.
With inputs from PTI
