Mithali Raj – A Great Indian Cricketer
Just a few months back almost all cricket lovers came to know about Mithali Raj when she reached the final match of ICC World Cup defeating all her opponents in quarter final, semi – final matches, unfortunate was she, she could not able to win the final match played against England, though the team played brilliantly but lost the final match by 9 runs, England Team with hope against hope left no stone unturned to win this match, their captain never lose heart all along the play, so enthusiastically played and led patiently her team towards victory.
Mithali Raj came up a successful captain and an able captain throughout all the matches against the participating teams in the World Cup – 2017, everyone who happened to witness the matches and over and over playing her and leading the team cannot forget the exciting moments of the play of Indian Team.
It is no exaggeration to say that it is Mithali Raj who led the team to Semi – Final. From the start of the first match to the end of the last one there were so many ups and downs but in the long run Indian Team reached the Final, played vigorously but luck did not favor and lost the match by 9 runs.
Mithali Raj – Full Name Mithali Dorai Raj
Born – 3rd. December 1982, Jodhpur, Rajasthan (India)
Parents – Father in Airforce, mother – Housewife
Now living in Hyderabad
Marital Status – Bachelor
Batsman Right handed
Test Debut – 14th. January 2002 v England
ODI Debut – 26th. June 1999 v Ireland
T20 Debut – 5th. August 2006 v England
Mithali Raj led the Indian Team to the ICCW World Cup Final Match in 2017 which was played between India & England on 23rd. July 2017 in the Lords ground of London.
How India reached Final under the captaincy of Mithali Raj is given below:
1. June 24, Saturday India defeated England by 35 runs.
2. June 29, Thursday India defeated West Indies by 7 Wickets.
3. July 2, Sunday India defeated Pakistan by 95 runs.
4. July 5, Wednesday India defeated Sri Lanka by 16 runs.
5. July 15, Saturday India defeated New Zealand by 186 runs.
6. July 20, Thursday India defeated Australia by 36 runs.
7. July 23, Sunday India lost by 9 runs.
If we look at the above statistics of India wins one after another and reaching to the final, we observe that Mithali Raj able captaincy and her team spirit were the vital factors to pave way the difficult paths and to reach to the final match played very enthusiastically but could not win this match due to bad luck.
In the last few overs the batsmen lost the patience and lost the match merely by 9 runs.
What I noticed that in one hand Indian batsmen could not balance themselves and on the other the England bowlers and fielders dominated from all corners due to which they uprooted their feet from the crease well before time, the dream that every Indian had had to be the champion could not be materialized.
While England got the winning cup, India had to compromise with the runner’s cup.
When the Team came back from England, they were welcome enthusiastically and appreciated immensely for what they did for the country, though defeated in the final but played very brilliantly all along all the matched that is why they reached the final and were very fortunate in playing in Lords Stadium of London reckoned as the best one.
BCCI announced INR 50 lakh to each player of the squad and over and above many prizes by their state cricket association and so on.
I am very fortunate I watched the match from beginning to the end and sincerely speaking I was sanguine India would lift the winning cup but here it was bad luck that India lost the match by merely 9 runs by England.
What I watched throughout the matches England Team – particularly its captain did not lose heart nor was nervous rather hopefully played and guided to unless or until defeated India and be the winning Team in ICCWW Cup 2017 in their own soil i.e. Lords Ground of London.
Once again I recollected my school days when we rejoiced the win or loss coming in the Truck BHR – 3672 in a group exclaiming – “Hip, hip, Hurrah!”
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Durga Prasad – Critic & Analyst ( Cricket Matches)
