Mithali Raj is the only women's cricketer to have played in six World Cups.
Indian women’s cricket team crashed out of the ongoing ICC Women’s World Cup 2022 with a three-wicket loss to South Africa in a do-or-die contest on the league stage on March 27, Sunday, in Christchurch.
Before the start of the Women’s World Cup 2022, India's women captain Mithali Raj hinted at a possible retirement after the mega event, and now questions about the same have arisen following the team’s heartbreaking exit from the event.
Mithali Raj stressed that it's not the right time to take a call on her future, saying she has not even come out of the disappointment of failing to qualify for the semi-finals of the Women’s World Cup 2022 on Sunday.
Notably, the 39-year-old is the only women's cricketer to have played in six World Cups after making her maiden appearance 22 years ago.
Speaking at the post-match virtual media interaction, Raj said of her future plans: “You've not given me even an hour to think about my future, to go through and process what has just happened today. When you have a disappointment and in the campaign which ends like this in a World Cup where you've really prepared very hard over a year, it takes time to accept and then probably move on from there. Whatever the future holds for each and every player, so I've not really thought about my future.”
She further said of her retirement, “I am not in... It would not be appropriate for me to comment on my future, considering that the sort of game that we just played and emotions are still there. It needs to settle down before I could sort of have clarity on that and give an answer to that.”
The skipper continued, “Honestly, right now I don't have any emotions. I'm just trying to get a hang of how the match has gone through. Probably it will hit me, maybe tomorrow, because at some point we'll have to deal with the disappointment. It's a process that will take time.”
Mithali also said India felt the absence of their iconic India pacer Jhulan Goswami against South Africa.
She noted, “I'm sure she would have made a difference, with so many years of experience playing different teams and different surfaces, similar pressure situations. Having a senior player like her to lead the bowling attack clearly would have made a difference.”
Raj added, “But having said that, I'm sure she might be feeling very disappointed that in the last game of the Indian team she could not be part of. But then that's how it is. She had a side strain during the training session and she couldn't recover. I really wanted to win this game so that we could give her another game to play the semi-final.”
She admitted that the World Cup 2022 exit may be a bitter pill to swallow, but it's not the right time to make wholesale changes in the side.
Raj said, “It's important that you don't take any step right now. You allow the team to process what has happened and maybe with time you know, the management, the Board, the selectors will look into it. But right now I think as players we need some time to process that.”
Speaking about the positives, she said: “A lot of good things have come out of the tournament like we've got Yastika. Shafali has started scoring runs. The spinners have done well. There are areas we need to work on moving forward. But overall, we could have done better, and in the initial phases of the tournament. But, future definitely looks bright.”
Raj signed off by saying, “It's part and parcel of the sport, it didn't go our way. Of course, it is disappointing for all of us. But moving forward, we have very talented youngsters in the side. And I'm sure, in the coming tournaments we will have a very strong side and play well.”
(With PTI Inputs)