Mithali Raj knows a thing or two about pressure. For long, she and Jhulan Goswami were flagbearers for India in the women’s game and the most recognisable faces. She led India to two World Cup finals, the first in her maiden assignment as skipper.
With the ODI World Cup being co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka, and the former one of the favourites to go the distance, The Hindu caught up with Mithali to understand how far the game has evolved in India, how the nation can maximise on the opportunity while staging the ODI extravaganza, and much more. Excerpts:
Let’s begin with the 2005 ODI World Cup, where you were thrown into the deep end as captain at the age of 23. Did it change the way your competitors looked at you?
It did change the way we looked at ourselves, more than what the opponents felt. Our preparation for that World Cup was quite good. We played defending champion New Zealand at home and beat them 4-1.
We played Australia at home and the scoreline was 3-4. It wasn’t one-sided. We played good sides before that World Cup. Until then, in World Cups, we had always made knockouts.
We realised we had undervalued ourselves. Everyone thought we should reach the finals and that was our goal but we never thought about winning after getting to that final. Maybe we should have. We might have won! But, that feeling we had of maybe not matching up to the best sides changed after the World Cup.
India next made the final in 2017. How different was the mindset then?
Things were very clear in 2017. We reached England late at night. The coaching staff called us to the ground the next morning and said, “We are not here on a holiday to take time to get through the jet lag or complain about the cold. We are here to win the World Cup.” We were thrown into training right away.
During the tournament, we lost a few games but came back. Everybody contributed. Punam Raut, Smriti Mandhana started well. Players like Veda Krishnamurthy and Harmanpreet Kaur picked up later.
Sushma Verma played a crucial innings against Pakistan. I missed out on topping the run charts by a single run as well.
It’s a long tournament. Players sometimes peak early, sometimes late. How you peak as a team… that is important in a tournament like this.
The focus definitely wasn’t about just reaching the finals. We were clear about being there to win.
Ahead of this World Cup, India is one of the overwhelming favourites. Big jump, isn’t it?
This was bound to happen. Australia had a head start because the Women’s Big Bash League and the link to their 50-over tournament started much before our Women’s Premier League and The Hundred. With leagues like this, you have players from different parts of the globe coming together, and your game awareness improves considerably.
Elite athletes will grow, but so will your domestic players. Suddenly, you see a defined change in the way they get onto the field because they’re all looking at their role models; some are even playing alongside them.
It’s not just about performance there. A player is no longer insecure about whether they will get picked or not.
They can recognise an opportunity for what it is, rather than feeling insecure or feeling fear or pressure to perform, which we all did for the longest time because we had no other platform outside the domestic circuit. International games were scarce, like a series in two series in a year at best. It didn’t help to gain any momentum.
Look at how many games players get now. It’s a busy year. If not internationals, you are busy with leagues.
There was a time when your career had massive gaps between series. Do you regret missing opportunities?
You realise it more when people ask you about it. If you compare it to the current situation, yes, I could have played a lot more. My growth as a player wouldn’t have been as slow as it was then, and I would have had a lot more runs. Earlier, every time there was a series, we had to start from the beginning. I remember there was this England series where I notched up two scores in the 90s, but that was the only series the entire year.
We didn’t know when we’d play next, and players would have to start from the beginning to build momentum again. So there is a small bit of regret, but that’s okay. In hindsight, I have the fortune of now watching the game to evolve where we are now from very close quarters.
When the T20 format started dipping into our calendars, the games were sparse. Now, with regular fixtures and leagues, you realise how transferable T20 skills are into the other formats. Building that awareness took time for me.
How do you do all this in just five games a year? How do you know if a player is good enough with a small number of fixtures to gauge them on? How much could you truly experiment? We were torn between giving opportunities to new faces and sticking to tried and tested names who could win us games. It was a big dilemma back then.
The last time India hosted a World Cup during your time as an active cricketer was in 2013 and then back in 1997. What are your memories?
In 1997, I was too young to even understand the gravity of a World Cup at home. I was in class 10. I was attending these 20-day camps, and until the first match, I was with the team as first standby.
In 2013, we had just come back from a T20 Asia Cup and went straight into the World Cup. It was happening in Mumbai, but there was not much talk about it in terms of promotion. The media were there, of course.
The cricket community knew a World Cup was happening, but not the world outside it.
Compare that to this year. We have a trophy tour that I don’t remember happening before. The volume of digital content created today that we didn’t have in 2013. The media coverage has exponentially increased too.
In 2013, attendance was poor. How do you think things will be this time, given that the World Cup will play out in largely non-mainstream venues?
This World Cup is starkly different in its build-up. Promotions aside, we are also coming from a home series against Australia, which was a great endorsement ahead of the tournament.
It helps that surfaces are also increasingly good for scoring. We have the chance to show new audiences that the women’s game is no longer about 250 totals. 350 totals, too, can be chased now. The third India-Australia ODI saw close to 800 runs, and it was still not enough. People thought India could have completed that chase. With each cycle, you can see how much the women’s game is growing.
Teams have been improving and playing each other competitively. Games are no longer one-sided like they largely were before. There are favourites, yes, but no one is running away with the advantage early on. It is anyone’s World Cup, and the last few editions, particularly the T20 World Cup, have shown us just that.
This World Cup will build on everything the WPL has put in place in the last three years.
How has the ODI format retained that top-tier space when the focus is on T20Is to grow the sport?
I think it’s because ODIs are not as frequent as T20Is. Every two years, you have another T20 World Cup. The ODI event is different. It comes every four years, and you see significant changes in trends and squads each time. It tests teams in transition. ODIs are still the pinnacle for the women’s game because of this. Most nations don’t play Tests, so the one-day event becomes the marquee.
The Women’s World Cup started in this format so it does hold a special place of its own. It has an unmatched legacy in this vertical given that it goes right back to the origins of the sport.
India has ironed out long-standing technical and tactical issues in the batting order. But the bowling still looks a bit undercooked. Is there reason to worry?
Honestly, I do know that we don’t have an out-and-out fast bowler. We do have bowlers who can swing the ball on a batting-friendly surface when there’s nothing to offer from the wicket, when it gets very difficult to sort of get pace on the ball.
But then our spin department is doing much better because we have Deepti (Sharma), and we have Sneh Rana, who has been incredible after her comeback. You have the experience of Radha Yadav and a very interesting prospect in Sree Charani.
In the pace pool, barring Kranti Goud, we have experienced players in the mix. Given the batting line-up India has, the side is banking on scoring more and hoping the bowlers can defend.
We don’t have someone like Lauren Filer or Darcie Brown, who both bring in pure pace. But our bowlers are also good in their own right. They, especially Sneh, have done well in the middle overs. In the game where Australia scored 412, Sneh was better than most in the middle overs, despite not getting the wickets.
With youngsters like Sree Charani and Kranti finding permanent roles in the team, do you think their home state associations (who are also hosts) should capitalise on them during the World Cup?
State bodies getting an opportunity to host should encourage players to go watch the games live. They should also try and have players in the system around training sessions where there could be chances to interact with the teams.
You can learn so much by watching how elite athletes approach their drills. State associations could request a few interaction sessions with domestic players. Not everyone gets picked in the WPL, so this could be a way for players to get some time with elite athletes and ask questions.
Do you think 400-plus scores will be the norm, or was the India-Australia game an exception?
It all depends on the surface. 300-350 totals are now the standard most teams are playing to. Teams are mentally prepared for that. When you lock on that as a priority, you’ll be able to reach it more frequently. The bar then gets pushed higher and higher. Higher scores may be the case in the next five years, potentially, but for this World Cup, around 350 as the norm is what I think teams will try to reach.
We’re applying many of these trends to the top four teams (Australia, India, England, South Africa, and maybe New Zealand). But Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh are a bit slow to catch up. There’s a clear tier two. How can the gap be bridged?
Apart from international series, do these sides have exposure playing in different leagues or different systems? If yes, how many players go?
For Sri Lanka, we largely see Chamari playing in leagues around the world. You can see the growth in her skill and approach. But one player evolving is not enough to change the system for the entire team.
How much international cricket or exposure are they getting in a calendar year, apart from the bilateral series that they play with every team in the ICC cycle? How regularly do they play Australia? They don’t. How regularly do they play England? They don’t. How frequently are they touring abroad? That’s the question decision makers at every level need to sit down and think about.
