2021 World Cup Qualification comes as welcome news amidst coronavirus crisis, feels Mithali Raj

On Wednesday, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced India's direct qualification for the ICC Women's ODI World Cup in 2021, joining the likes of Australia, England, South Africa and hosts New Zealand. The decision came after the ICC technical committee decided to split the points reserved for their cancelled series against Pakistan last year, which was a part of the ICC Women's Championship. 

The ICC Technical Committee has cited it as a Force Majeure event and that cleared the deck for the Indian team to the New Zealand World Cup. The decision pleased Mithali to no end, who stated that the qualification for the 50-Over World Cup should ease a lot of pressure on the players. 

“In that context, this is welcome news amidst the crisis because of the COVID-19 that is threatening the entire world. Definitely, this is good news even though we are not sure when the conditions will improve and when any sporting activity resumes. Now, with the issue of World Cup settled, we can plan in a much better way the preparations as there will be enough time even if the situation improves, hopefully, by August this year,” Mithali told Sportstar.

This will be Mithali's sixth World Cup and she is expected to lead this time as well. However, the uncertainty regarding the COVID-19 curve has made things bit disturbed. Mithali hopes that the situation will improve by August and the team will get adequate time to prepare for the World Cup.

“Of course, a lot depends on the kind of international schedule women’s cricket can afford in the run-up to the World Cup. But, by all means, with India qualifying for the event, the focus can shift to other equally important subjects like planning to realise that one big dream - win the World Cup. Obviously, the focus now cannot be on competitions but on the resumption of minimum training sessions,” she says.