Perception about women’s cricket will now change, says Mithali Raj

Mithali Raj has said that despite India’s heart-breaking loss to England in the ICC Women’s World Cup final, people’s opinion on women’s cricket will change and they’ll consider India a force to reckon with in the cricketing world.

“It wasn’t easy for England but credit to them for keeping their nerve,” said Mithali.

“There was a time where the match was in the balance, but we panicked. I’m very proud of the girls. They didn’t make any match look easy for the other team. Thank you to the crowd for turning up for a women’s cricket final. This is a huge boost for all the women cricketers. Now, people at home will have a different perspective about women’s cricket.”

Mithali, who ended the tournament as India’s leading rungetter and second highest overall (409 runs in nine games), said she’ll continue to play for another two years or so but her participation in the next World Cup seems highly unlikely.

“I will play for a couple of years more, but I don’t see myself playing the next World Cup,” Mithali added.

England captain Heather Knight was delighted with her team’s performance and said in the past one and a half years, their primary focus was on dealing with high-pressure situations which helped them win their third title at home.

“We’ve made it hard for ourselves, but we’ve won some tight games. All that we’ve done in the last 18 months was to deal with situations where the heat was on. The girls really held their nerve, apart from the drop of Jenny Gunn which was stressful. Thanks to everyone for their support.”

Anya Shrubsole, who won the Player-of-the-Match award for her six-wicket haul, said Harmanpreet’s wicket was the biggest turning point of the game.

“It was an unbelievable game, it looked for a minute like we were out of it but one of the great things about this team is we never give up.”