Exclusive/ Mithali Raj on the prevailing state of Women's Cricket in India, system deficiencies & corrections

One of the field's global ambassadors, former India Women's captain, Mithali Raj graced the dais at the Republic India Women's Summit. As the event was all about celebrating the women of the nation from all walks of life, therefore, it would have been incomplete had the quintessential example of hard work and success, Mithali Raj, wasn't in the panel. She was joined by two other luminars from the sporting world, Commonwealth Gold Medalist, Pinki Singh, and Mehuli Ghosh, who is one of India's premier medal hopes in the upcoming Paris Olympics 2024.

Special correspondent Rakshita Mishra welcomed the champion females on stage, and had an engrossing conversation with the three.

Note: In this part, only a chunk of the conversation with Mithali Raj has been presented.

Mithali Raj, who has left the benchmark so high and has left the field of cricket mesmerised with all that she has achieved in her over two-decade-long career, addressed questions like, how far women's cricket has come over the years, what needs to be changed in the system, and the corrective measures that can be taken to encourage more women to take up the sport. She gave an expressive take on each of the topics, so, without further ado, here are the excerpts from the conversation.

On the drastic change over time

The major difference I can see is that there are lot many academies that are happy to enroll girls to play the sport. And there is equal match fees for the girls playing for India. There is a Women's Premier League (WPL), we are getting into our second season, so there is a huge change from when I started it in the 90s to where Women's cricket now is. It is in a much-much better place, I can see a lot many girls in the interiors of our country pick up bat and play. We get to see a lot more videos on social media. So, I think we have come a long way when we talk about Women's cricket in our country.

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On what is lacking in the system and how to fill it

See, I think when it comes to the cities, the girls do have lot of resources now. Be it any sport there are academies and facilities for them to take up the sport but when we talk about districts and the interior parts of our country, not many girls get those opportunities. There are few who have migrated from the districts to the cities only to pursue sport, I have a couple of examples in Hyderabad itself, who have come from the districts of Andhra to Hyderabad and they have settled with their family to get access to those facilities. So, if we could find a way where we can pump in more money in these smaller towns because there is a lot of talent even in those areas. If we can identify that and give them a platform and develop them there, rather than they uprooting themselves and coming to the cities for those facilities. I think we then increase more girls to take up the sport, I think that is one area we could look into.

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On the disparity between Men and Women's cricket

Well there is always scope for improvement and I would definitely not compare where men's cricket is today, because their journey is very different to women's cricket. For them, the 1983 World Cup was a turning point, since then the men's cricket that we see the board that has developed them, has put in a lot of ideas to get IPL sort of a league start, and lot of things the board has done. For us, it's been the 2017 World Cup. So, yes we will get there at some point and for anything to happen, change! it will take some time. The positive is that BCCI has definitely done a lot in the last four, five years to get equal pay, and start Women's Premier League. We have the U-19 World Cup for the young girls which we didn't for so many years. So, having U-19, U-23, even India A tournaments, I think it helps greatly to increase a lot more girls coming into that pool. When we talk about the Women's Premier League, yes for an example, that we just recently, my franchise that I represent, it is Gujarat Giants, we bought a player for 2cr. At one point I cannot even imagine to earn 2cr playing for just 3 weeks of cricket, and that girl is yet to represent the country. So, that shows that a player, a domestic player from a humble background can still earn a lot of money playing for the sport. It's become professional, and I think that example can reach out to lot many girls, to parents, to actually take the sport very seriously.