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Mithali Raj-The Girl who inspired many!

Coming from the school where the girls are punished if they talk to boys, 
Coming from the country where most of the parents believe that playing with the boys or playing cricket will make your "girly quality" disappear, 
Coming from the place where the most of the people believe that girls are expected to do only household chores,
When you see someone who does a great job for the country, surely make you feel glad.

She, who left the dancing to take up the cricket career literally holds a special place in the hearts of many for following the passion against all the taboos the country can put in front of her. 




Thanks to her parents, who not like other Indian parents falling to those taboos and made Mithali follow her dreams.  

Women's cricket was never as popular as it is now. We now get to watch live matches, well at least one or two. 
Those days, we never had the facility like cricketing apps to at least know the scores. Only the important world cup matches usually get telecasted and that is the only time we support the team and the team those days, flunked badly and that is it. 

Once the World Cup was over, we neither tune into women's game nor we had the facility to.  

We learn about the cricketers only during the world cup matches and the names keep changing for every world cup. 

Two to three names stood strong for the past three world cups and Mithali Dorai Raj is the most familiar name. 

The 16-Year-old girl when debuted would have never had the idea that she would survive this long. Over the years, she has gained the reputation that she can single-handedly drive the team to victory. 




Whenever I update the status about the scores, most of the times I write her name first in the "highest score for India column" then I go to check the team's score. The faith she has created in us is something impeccable. 

People say that 30's are the time when your movements slow down, you will be the oldest among the team and it will be difficult to cope up with the running, fielding kind of stuff but I have never seen her backing down at this age. 




This 6000 runs, consecutive 50s, and other records are just like adding a cherry to the cake. For her fitness level and her form, I wish she goes past 10,000 runs. 
Hey.. but wait, Indian women don't get as many matches as the other team or the Indian men's cricket team do. This now makes all her achievement even more special.





The cool captain she is, I never saw her angry at any moment of the game. That day, when the match was very critical, even the people who watched it from the home were tensed, she was there reading a book as casual as one could be on a beach. 
If this doesn't inspire young players, I don't know what will it take to. 




If she isn't there on the team now, I cannot imagine how big the impact will be and who will take the responsibility to fill her shoes. 

I guess she is irreplaceable when it comes to the Women's cricket. It will be a huge loss and it will take years for India to recover from it if she retires any soon (she says that she will retire only after lifting the world cup for the nation). 

I have never seen a player who plays almost every shot with at most perfection. I, like every other Women's cricket fan, fall in love with her, whenever she plays. There are so many things one can learn from her. 

India is not known for their great opening partnerships. Most of the times, there will be a fall of wicket very early and we will be in a desperate need of a batter who can play long innings. When everyone around is tensed and the opponent is all pumped up, Mithali will walk in without any fear, builds her innings slowly, plays a solid knock and takes the team to a decent total while all the other players failed. 




If India scored only 100 runs on the board, Mithali would have contributed around 70. This is how she was/is for India. 

She never feared to speak her mind out. Her straightforwardness does make her even more special. Her press conference sessions are indeed a treat to watch. Remember the recent incident when the reporter asked who was her favorite male cricketer was? Almost every press meeting of hers goes this way. 

All I wish for is, A county player in the men's cricket gets more recognition, salary than the captain of India in India while the other main cricketing nations are inspired by her. 


She deserves more. 
More for not giving up that easily. 
More for being a role model.
More for being that backbone of the Indian cricket. 
More for staying calm, composed and playing great knocks when India needed her. 
More for taking India to places.
More for carrying India's pride for all these long. 

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