"Do you want to be the Mithali Raj of the Australia Cricket Team" - Nicole Bolton reveals a shocking statement by legendary Aussie pacer

Former Australia women's batter Nicole Bolton has revealed a shocking statement by the former Aussie fast bowler Cathryn Fitzpatrick, in which she made an insulting remark on India's legendary batter Mithali Raj.

Bolton revealed that she had a conversation with Cathryn Fitzpatrick, who was her coach at that time, during her initial days in List A cricket with Victoria. Bolton had an excellent debut with Western Australia in 2014 before moving to Victoria next year.

The 35-year-old left-hander scored a steady hundred on her Victoria debut and followed up with 35 off 68 balls and 43 off 69 balls in the next two innings. But despite scoring runs consistently, head coach Fitzpatrick was not happy with her performances and slammed her below par strike rates.

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"Do you want to be the Mithali Raj of the Australia Cricket Team" - Cathryn Fitzpatrick's statement to Nicole Bolton

During a show, Nicole Bolton revealed that she had tried to impress Mithali Raj for a long time but when she scored runs, she expressed her unhappiness at the strike rate. In a brutal comparison, Fitzpatrick compared Bolton to Mithali Raj for her low strike rates.

“For so long, I was just trying to impress her (Cathryn Fitzpatrick). I was just trying to get her to see me. And, I just remember, she called me into her office to have a chat. And she was like, ‘Do you honestly want to be the Mithali Raj of the Australia Cricket Team?’ And I was like, 'Mithali Raj'?" Bolton revealed in a Stories After Stumps podcast.

The standards of the Aussie team are next level! 🫨

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"Why can’t you be like Meg Lanning or Elyse Villani" - Cathryn Fitzpatrick to Nicole Bolton

Bolton also mentioned that Fitzpatrick challenged her to play like Meg Lanning and Elyse Villani as the team was losing after such slow hundreds.

"And she was like, ‘Yeah, do you honestly want to strike at 50? It’s okay if you get 100 but the team still loses and you get 100 off 150 balls?’ And I was, ‘Woah! This is how Cathryn Fitzpatrick sees me. That’s not good at all. If this is how she sees me, my career is going to be pretty short-lived,'” Bolton said.

“She sort of said to me, ‘Why can’t you be like Meg Lanning or Elyse Villani? That’s how we want you to play,’” he added.

Nicole Bolton played 50 ODIs for Australia and scored 1896 runs at an average of 41.21 and a strike rate of 72.31. The 35-year-old was an opening batter.

Meanwhile, Mithali Raj is regarded as one of the best batters ever to have played women's cricket. She is the highest run-getter in the history of women's cricket. She has played 232 ODIs in her career and scored 7805 runs at an average of 50.68 and a strike rate of 66.19.

Despite scoring runs consistently, Mithali Raj was criticized for her low strike rates. At a time when women's cricket was evolving rapidly, Raj struggled to keep up with the high strike rates required in women's cricket.