Travelled in a Train as India Player, Reveals Mithali Raj

The Indian women team’s heroic performance in this year’s World Cup has helped them get all the attention and praise that they deserved.

The likes of Veda Krishnamurthy, Punam Raut, Sushma Verma were relatively unknown among the fans, but they have become household names after the Women in Blue defied all the odds to make it to the finals of the ICC Women’s World Cup.

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After qualifying for the main event by playing the qualifiers, Mithali Raj & Co. defeated the likes of England, New Zealand and Australia to make it to the final which they lost by 11 runs. Even though the team lost the finale, they received a rousing reception in India and got lauded by all the quarters.

But there is absolutely no denying the fact women’s cricket was not going through a good phase in the recent past and the latest incident revealed by none other than Mithali Raj, arguably the most significant woman cricketer of the nation more or less shows the sorry state of affairs women’s cricket was in.

The 35-year old revealed she had travelled unreserved in a train even after becoming an Indian player.

“There were a lot of struggles in my journey. Now we are under the BCCI, but that time (when women cricketers were not under the board), the normal basic facility which a sports person gets to play even (we did not get). As an India cricketer, I have travelled unreserved from Hyderabad to Delhi by train, as an India player,” Mithali recalled at a session of ‘We The Women’ initiative which was moderated by scribe Barkha Dutt.

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In reply, a surprised Dutt said:

“That would never happen to a man.”

Mithali then went on to prove Dutt right by saying:

“That’s what Rahul Dravid said. He said he has never travelled in the train as an India player, but I did. But those difficulties make us strong. As women, we face so many challenges at an early stage, that when we mature and take up the challenges, we become so strong mentally, that we can do so many things, that we ourselves don’t believe that we are capable of.”

The batswoman also revealed her grandparents were not comfortable when she took up sports.

“Very much, because I am from South India, my grandparents were not comfortable that I was playing a sport (cricket). My parents had to bear a lot, but they have cocooned my life in a such a way, that I did not have to deal with the negativity,” she revealed.

Well, fortunately for India as well as women’s cricket, Mithali did not pay much heed to others and continued with the game. The right-handed batswoman, who has been serving the nation for the last 18 years, must have made everyone proud when she became the toast of the nation after guiding the Women in Blue to the final of this year’s World Cup. She had also led the team to the final of World Cup in 2005 which was Indian women team’s maiden final appearance.

The first women cricketer to surpass the 6,000-run mark in ODI cricket, Mithali is currently the leading run-scorer in the 50-over format, having scored 6190 runs at an average of 51.58.

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