Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami : A tribute to the two legends of Indian women's cricket

Both Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami have been playing over a decade for the Indian team.

I don't remember hearing Sachin Tendulkar's name before watching a cricket match for the first time but I do remember identifying Mithali Raj on the screen while watching my first Indian Womens' game on television. And the second women cricketer in my earliest cricketing memory is none other than Jhulan Goswami.

Every cricket fan born in the 90s would have a perceptible feeling that these two have been serving Indian cricket since forever.

Mithali Raj started her career only at the age of 16 and did not take long to blossom. She struck a hundred on her ODI debut (114*) in 1999 and then a double hundred (214*) in only her third Test to mark his capability as a batter.

She was shortly made the captain of the team and she led the Indian team to their first ever World Cup final in 2005. Unfortunately, not many people even knew India is playing the final that day as Indian fans were busy in covering the more illustrious and historic India-Pakistan series. The feat only became evident after India's fantastic performances in the recently concluded World Cup, raised the hopes of another final appearance.

With not much advertisement for Women cricket, it is no rocket-science why Mithali Raj thought about quitting the game in 2009 but was talked out of it by her family and coach.

It is quite ironical that a cricketer who is a symbol of dedication for young girls all over the country, Mithali Raj was forced into cricket by her father only because he wanted his daughter to wake up early in the morning.

When Mithali was taking giant strides in Indian cricket with the bat in her hands, Jhulan was doing the same as a bowler. Not only she is one of the tallest bowlers in Womens' cricket, she is one of the fastest too. And to think of it, her cricket journey started when she was banished from bowling in street cricket because she was not fast enough for the boys liking.

She says she was thrashed all over the park by the boys in her locality and that is what motivated her to push her limits and bowl fast.

Both of them are still going strong in Womens' cricket. Mithali Raj was instrumental in taking the Indian girls to the final of the WWC 2017, not only with her leadership skills but with her bat as well.

She scored 3 fifties along with a hundred in the tournament. Her first fifty in the tournament made her the first women cricketer to score seven consecutive 50s in WODIs. During her third 50+ score which came against Australia, she crossed Charlotte Edwards' tally of the highest number of ODI runs in Womens' cricket and also became the first player to cross the barrier of 6,000 runs in the format.

And after India's victory in the semifinal, she became the only captain in the history of Indian cricket, men or women, to lead her team to 2 ODI World Cup finals.

Jhulan Goswami came into the tournament as the world record holder for most wickets in WODIS, surpassing Cathryn Fitzpatrick of Australia. Indian spinners like Ekta Bisht and Rajeshwari Gayakwad attracted most of the limelight with their fancied 5-fers; but Jhulan Goswami silently went with her business consistently bowling economical spells by exploiting the top of off-stump. And her spell in the final where she took 3/23 justified why we need to celebrate her more.

Mithali Raj has been playing for India since last 18 years, which is longer than the career span of Rahul Dravid and Jhulan Goswami is doing it since 15 years which is longer than Zaheer Khan's career. Yes, they have not played the same number of matches but staying on the international circuit for that period of time is a herculean task for women cricketers.

Both of them came into the World Cup knowing it is their last. Mithali Raj made it clear at the press conference that she won playing another edition of the global tournament and wants to sign off by winning the trophy. It is no brainer that she is speaking for Jhulan as well.

The dream seemed like coming to reality when India restricted the hosts England to a sub-par 228 and carefully inched within 90 runs of the target with 8 wickets in hand. All that was required was to keep a calm head on the shoulders and keep moving closer towards the target

But that did not happen. Indian team hit the panic button, especially after the fall of Punam Raut. The Alpha Wolf of the team, Veda Krishnamurthy was still there and we needed an Angelo Mathews/MS Dhoni kind of approach from her to work out the singles and dig in deep in the innings to keep the pressure on England.

But she chose to be Shahid Afridi instead and from hitting some eye-catching inside-out strokes, she lost her wicket to an ugly shot and with her, went the hopes of India winning the finals.

Mithali Raj could only watch it from the boundary line with her hands on her face. No doubt she would be cursing herself for not attempting a dive and giving up before the ball hit the stumps. Especially after all the effort, she had put in to reach that point in the game and in the tournament.

Jhulan Goswami, no wonder how good a yorker that was from Anya Shrubsole, would be disappointed with her golden duck and not contributing to her excellent work with the ball.

In the end, it would be Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami who would be most disappointed with the loss. To see yourself so close to your dream and then watching it bottled from the fence is the most disheartening moment of any individuals life.

But then Mithali Raj, being the skipper, kept her tears to herself. I just controlled myself at the ground from crying. Or else, it would have reflected on my teammates badly. The defeat takes the time to sink in, having come so close to winning it, she said.

No wonder she will be asked a lot of questions about the final when she will return home. And no matter what words come out of her mouth, she will always tell herself that they should have won it.

It won't be wrong to say that we made even South Africa proud with that choke but the team still deserves all the love.

You don't disparage a batsman for getting dismissed on 99, just because he did not get that one extra run to complete a hundred. Similarly, the Indian girls also deserved a pat on the back followed by the words, well played at the end of that final.

In the end, all of us were left heartbroken with the defeat but if anyone got their heart shattered into pieces, it was our stalwarts Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami who won't get another shot at the glory of a lifetime.

 

 
 

By Shubh Aggarwal - 25 Jul, 2017

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