Mithali Raj : Had to travel in unreserved train compartments as an Indian player

Mithali Raj : Had to travel in unreserved train compartments as an Indian player

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Mithali Raj has recalled her struggles during the early stages of her career through an incident where despite being an Indian player, she had to travel unreserved from Hyderabad to Delhi by train. She also revealed that her grandparents were not comfortable when she chose cricket as a career.

For the longest time, Indian women cricketers had to play under the Women's Cricket Association of India which was formed in 1973 and not under the BCCI. Later, ICC started an initiative to develop women’s cricket, in that process the Women's Cricket Association of India was merged with the BCCI in 2006. While women cricketers have started getting their due credit recently, it was not easy an easy road for the veterans in the team. Mithali, who made her international debut in 1999, when she scored a hundred in the ODI game against Ireland, also revealed the kind of struggles the players had to face before help from BCCI arrived. 

“There were a lot of struggles in my journey. Now we are under the BCCI, but that time (when women cricketers were not under the board), the normal basic facility which a sports person gets to play even (we did not get). As an India cricketer, I have travelled unreserved from Hyderabad to Delhi by train, as an India player,” Mithali recalled in a programme as quoted by PTI. 

Despite facing odd situations in her life, the 35-year-old became a model for the current women cricketer of the country. She played ten Tests in her career in which she scored 663 runs with a highest score of 214. She scored 6190 runs at an average of 51.58 in 186 ODI and also claimed eight wickets. She featured in 63 T20I where she added 1708 runs including ten half-centuries. The right-hand player claimed that the hurdles helped her in becoming a strong individual.

“That’s what Rahul Dravid said. He said he has never travelled in train as an India player, but I did. But those difficulties make us strong. As women we face so many challenges at an early stage, that when we mature and take up the challenges, we become so strong mentally, that we can do so many things, that we ourselves don’t believe that we are capable of,” Jodhpur born Mithali added.

The Arjuna and Padma Shri awardee led the Indian side brilliantly in the Women’s World Cup leading the team to the final where they lost against England. Even though she failed to win the World Cup, personally, she had a great tournament scoring 409 runs - ending up as the second highest run-getter. She recalled that it was not an easy journey for her as her own grandparents were not comfortable when she informed them about her decision to pick cricket as her career.

“Very much, because I am from South India, my grandparents were not comfortable that I was playing a sport (cricket). My parents had to bear a lot, but they have cocooned my life in a such a way, that I did not have to deal with the negativity,” she said.

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