‘When I’m nervous, I talk to youngsters’: Mithali Raj, India women’s cricket team captain

This World Cup will be your last assignment for India. How are you feeling?
Well, honestly, if I think about the World Cup, there is a bit of nervousness about how things will go for India and more so knowing it’s going to be my last World Cup. But then I have always believed in preparation. So if I am preparing well and preparing right, I will take that confidence into the World Cup. The sort of team that we’ve been building in the last 2-3 years and the way this team has played in the last 2-3 series, it’s just a matter of gelling together and performing on that particular day. The squad that has been named has serious potential and if we play to potential there is no reason why we will not do well.

What do you think about the format, all eight teams playing each other once and then semi-finals and final?

I would prefer this, playing a league and then playing a knockout because you still get another chance if you have a bad game to make a comeback. I still remember the 2013 World Cup, it was played in the Super Six format where we lost to England and then the game against Sri Lanka became so important that we went on to lose that and we were out of the Super Six despite being the host team. That was quite a disappointment. It is always better to play a league because you can always make up even if you have a low net run rate, you can catch up with the teams later on and plan accordingly as the tournament progresses.

This World Cup, all eyes will be on you. Does that affect you?

Sometimes it does play in my mind, but as athletes that is how we’re conditioned to focus on the current situation at the ground and it is all about how you counter that. I have figured out a way, whenever I feel nervous, I try and interact with the youngsters, because they give a very different energy. So, it’s nice to be around youngsters who don’t carry the same amount of pressure that an experienced player carries into the World Cup.

Can you elaborate on this?

There were times when I looked up to the team for confidence because as a captain there are games where you feel that pressure, that it is a do or die situation and you alone have to give confidence to the team. But then I see there are youngsters who don’t care about all this. I remember this one instance recently in the Women’s Challenger in Dubai. Shafali (Verma) was in my team and in the second game I asked her, ‘do you want to bat or do you want to field?’. She said, ‘kuch bhi hoga didi dekha jayega’, ‘kuch bhi ho hum confidently jayenge’. So as a captain when you are not able to make a decision and you ask a youngster who gives an answer like that then it always eases the pressure out.

It is also Jhulan’s last World Cup. You two have played a lot of cricket together.

I have always looked up to her for inspiration in difficult times. When you have her in the side and see her take that extra time out to bowl single wicket in practice, it is bound to motivate you. Seeing her I have felt that I should find time out for the fundamentals as well. On tours it’s always helpful to have a personality like her. There are times when I ask her opinion on how we should approach a match and her opinion is obviously important because she has played for more than two decades with me. She has also led the team and a different perspective is always helpful.

Some good young pacers have come through the ranks in the last couple of years.

Meghna (Singh) has done well. Pooja (Vastrakar) had made her debut 2-3 years back. But the more matches they play and with Jhulan at mid-on or mid-off guiding them, it helps them to understand the game better.

The other day, Sachin Tendulkar said that he waited for 22 years for the World Cup glory and now Mithali has waited for 22 years, so something will happen. Your thoughts?
Fingers crossed (laughs). I hope that this will be ‘the’ World Cup for the women’s cricket team. This is the best opportunity we have. We have also got good practice. We played against South Africa at home, we played England in England, Australia in Australia and to play these teams at their home is tough. Yes, the results weren’t what they should have been but the girls now know what is expected of them in their roles and that will help us going forward in this tournament.

Have you been able to forget the 2017 Final loss?

It took time for me to swallow the defeat but I don’t want to look back now. This is a fresh World Cup and with a fresh World Cup comes fresh challenges and I do believe that we as a team stand a very strong chance in this World Cup.

You’ve been instrumental in making women’s cricket a serious, viable profession for young girls in India. Have you ever thought about it?

I haven’t given it that much of a thought but I truly believe, and I have said this in a couple of other interviews, that women who are successful in sports are the beacon of inspiration and hope to women in general because sports level the playing field where the cricket ball doesn’t differentiate between male or female player, it just travels at the speed at which it is thrown. Going forward I would be very happy to see young girls taking up this sport. From where I started in the 90s, not knowing about women’s cricket, to a point where today not just the young girls but also young boys look up to women cricketers as role models, is some serious progress made.

Do you think a good World Cup will help the BCCI to go ahead with the women’s IPL?

Not just the World Cup but over all the girls are playing in leagues everywhere and they are getting some valuable exposure. We’ve a good pool of players now. In the Challenger Trophy recently with four teams the standard of cricket was so good. If we do really well in the World Cup, it’ll definitely play a huge role but otherwise also it’s a good time because it’s important to build a team for future tournaments and women’s IPL will seriously help in doing so.

India are up against arch-rivals Pakistan in the first game. Your thoughts on it?

Going into a World Cup you prepare for every team, and I would prefer to beat a team when they are at their best because then we are playing our best game. So whether it’s Pakistan, England or New Zealand, it doesn’t matter. India have to win every game they play in the World Cup. If you keep asking me about India-Pakistan, clearly you are building the pressure now (laughs). No matter how many times we tell ourselves that it is just another game, the build up around that game and that day is always there from the organisations, the fans, the media, everybody. But as players we look at the game as the start of the World Cup and we would like to start it on a winning note.