After the turmoil, Mithali looks ahead to NZ challenge
KOLKATA: Mithali Raj used candour and conciliation to address prickly issues related to the India team of which she is the one-day captain and a T20 player.
The highest run-getter in the game, one with more T20 International runs than Virat Kohli, Mithali accepted that what happened after the World T20 semi-final was not quite cricket and hoped the focus would be back on the sport as India get ready for an arduous tour of New Zealand.
“As captain of the one-day team, I can say that it is important that we focus on getting the team together. The ICC has a points system in place and it is important for India to garner as many points as possible because it will help us in the 2021 (50-over) World Cup…this will be a challenging tour so we need to focus on the preparation,” said Mithali here on Saturday.
India will play three ODIS and three T20IS in New Zealand between January 24 and Febru- ary 10 in their first tour since 2007. Among the current lot, only Mithali and medium-pacer Jhulan Goswami have been there before.
Mithali deflected the question of whether she would be available for the next T20 World Cup, saying she would like to focus on 2019 instead, but dealt with the posers linked to the semi-final in North Sound and its aftermath.
“The last few days have been very stressful for me, my parents and people around me… The way things panned out wasn’t in good taste and has affected everybody in different ways,” she said.
The claims, counter-claims and leaked e-mails put a spotlight on women’s cricket that was not needed, she said. “When you talk about non-cricketing issues of players and the team, the focus goes away from the sport. … Now that things have settled, the spotlight should be on the sport, on the players, on the team.”
When someone lobbed a question about her relationship with India T20 skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, she said: “When 15 individuals come together and you take into account the support staff, it becomes a huge family. And usually in a family there is always difference of opinion; everybody does not have the same kind of perspective. So there will be issues but when we take the field as a national team…these issues don’t come into our list of priorities.”
Mithali said she hasn’t had the chance to interact with new coach WV Raman but said she knew him from when he was at the National Cricket Academy. “Whoever comes in, we should support him,” she said.