Raj recently called time on her T20I career.
Mithali Raj, Captain of Indian Women's team in Tests and ODI cricket, believes that the emerging teams need to be encouraged like Thailand to spread women’s cricket around the world.
Earlier in September, Thailand qualified for their maiden ICC Women's T20 World Cup in Australia to be played next year and Raj called for more exposure for the teams to ensure more stories like Thailand. Raj told ICC on Friday, “I think the top teams have been doing well, whether it is Australia, England, New Zealand, India or South Africa. But we need to have more teams participating in the ICC events. Like this year, Thailand is going to play its first ICC event [in Australia next year].”
Read Also: Ed Joyce named head coach of Ireland women's team for two years
She continued, “So, teams like that need to be encouraged. We need to give them more exposure. That is something we need to do more to spread women’s cricket around the world. People from countries other than the cricket-loving ones should be able to come forward and accept the sport as a profession. That is something we need to work on.”
The 36-year-old recently retired from T20I cricket to focus on 2021 World Cup, picking India’s 2-1 series win in Australia in 2016 as the "defining moment" for the team and the highlight of her T20I career.
She further went on to explain, “Winning the T20 series in Australia, beating Australia in 2016, is the highlight. Because until then, we ourselves didn’t believe that we are a decent T20 team. And that series win against Australia imbibed a lot of confidence into the team. Since then, we have seen a few girls getting into the WBBL, getting more opportunities, which has opened a lot of gates for domestic players to show a lot of interest in this format."
Read Also: India women cricketer reports match-fixing approach to BCCI ACU
Meanwhile, Raj heaped praise on Jemimah Rodrigues, saying the 19-year-old top-order batter is the one player whom she wants to play in the T20 World Cup impressed by her modern approach to batting.
She added, “Jemimah has been doing really well in this format, especially scoring runs on the New Zealand tour. She also had a good record in the WBBL, playing on Australian soil. She is one player you can look forward to in the T20 World Cup. The current generation is fearless in terms of results. If they feel like they should take a stand or go ahead, they go ahead irrespective of what the situation is. That definitely helps in your approach as a confident player.”
The right-hander is the only woman to have played 200 one-day internationals, saying she is working hard to keep herself fit as she locked her eyes on the 2021 World Cup.
Raj signed off by saying, “I have a set goal of playing the 2021 World Cup. I am looking forward to working a lot on my fitness because that is going to be one of the main criteria for me to extend my career. At the same time, [I want to] work on my skills to keep myself up-to-date to the current international standards in women’s cricket.”
(With ICC Inputs)