‘Didn’t get enough support in batting’

Mithali Raj, Indian women’s cricket team skipper, feels in her 18-year-long career she did not have enough support in the batting line-up to improve her own batting as much she wanted to.

“One thing is constant is the burden that I have carried all through. Somewhere, I felt that if I had few more batters to support me,.My game would have been much better than what it is or what it was,” Mithali said. “Even coming into the World Cup, considering how the team has been performing in the last two years, I think it was time for me to alleviate my own personal batting standards into the tournament. “But again the case has been that me being in the middle gives confidence to other batters.”

India’s World Cup future hangs in the balance after an eight-wicket defeat to Australia, but Mithali Raj is confident her side has the potential to be world beaters.

The skipper insists what stands between Indian women’s cricket and a maiden World Cup triumph is a lack of resilience inside their own heads rather than a lack of skill inside the boundary ropes.

And with their backs to the wall and a winner-takes-all clash against New Zealand on the horizon on Saturday, Raj is urging her teammates to buck the trend. Her team is hoping to join England, Australia and South Africa, who have already ensured knockout berths. “India is still searching for its first World Cup title. Australia and England have shown they are able to bounce back from disappointment,” she said.

“At this level, if you are aiming for the World Cup, because the tournament is so long there will be points where the team may lose a couple of games.

“If you want to win, you really have to have the players who are able to make those comebacks because every other team is trying to do the same thing and play good cricket. You can’t just give up because you lose one game. India has always had the problem that when faced with the crunch matches, the team does not necessarily step up.

“If it is a very crucial game in the T20s, the World Cup, or even one that just dictates a series win, we tend to fall down in that match. So that is something that Indian players in general really need to work on. The girls are so talented, but it’s just a matter of how well they pull themselves up after a defeat. That’s what makes world champions.”

With her career 18 years in the making, Mithali Raj finally climbed to the top of the world on Wednesday as she became the leading run-scorer in ODIs.

It feels nice to score runs and pass that landmark, but I would have to say that was not my intention coming into this tournament.