The former captain of the Indian women’s side, Mithali Raj, has called to move on from their current captain, Harmanpreet Kaur after the Blue Brigade made a group-stage exit in the ongoing Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 in the United Arab Emirates. Kaur replaced Raj in 2016 and has taken them to three semifinals in the four events of the shortest format he has led.
India lost their opening encounter against New Zealand in Dubai by 58 runs, before they made a great return with a couple of victories over Pakistan and Sri Lanka. But, once they lost to Australia and the Kiwis got the better of the Green Brigade, the Indian team was out of the competition.
“If the selectors decide to change, I would go for a young captain. This is the time (to change); if you delay more then we have another (ODI) World Cup on the horizon (October 2025). If you are not doing it now, then don’t do it later. Then it is too close to the World Cup.” Mithali Raj expressed this in an interaction with PTI.
Since that 2016 period, Smriti Mandhana has been the vice-captain of the side and is expected to replace Kaur, but the former captain has voiced for this veteran to carry the responsibility on the shoulder.
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“Smriti (Mandhana, the vice-captain since 2016) is there but, I think someone like Jemimah (Rodrigues), she’s 24, she’s young, she will serve you more. And (she) is someone who I feel on the field gets that energy. She speaks to everybody. I was very impressed by her in this tournament.” Mithali Raj highlighted this in the press conference.
She pointed out that India’s inability to adapt quickly has been one of the reasons for their poor show, They had two months of camp in Bengaluru while New Zealand and Australia faced each other, and South Africa made a trip to Pakistan.
Surprisingly, we took time to adjust to the slowness of the wicket. Unlike an ODI World Cup, it is a short tournament, you don’t have a lot of time to adjust to the conditions.” Mithali Raj shared her views. “Someone like (New Zealand captain) Sophie Devine was able to score that many runs (57 not out) against us, and she is not used to playing on slow tracks. We were not quick enough to adjust.”
India women have yet to win any ODI or T20 World Cup, despite having all the facilities in recent times.
Mithali Raj questions the lack of growth in the Indian women’s team
The Jodhpur-born has lamented that the women’s side hadn’t been able to keep an eye on the bigger picture, as they became satisfied beating the lower-ranked sides and got stunned when it comes to facing the big teams like Australia and England.
She also questioned why they fail to provide more chances to the young players after big tournaments, something which the men’s side had been doing over the years to grow their depth.
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“Why does the men’s team do well? Immediately after a big series or a big tournament, they try others. If we are talking about depth, then when are we giving them chances?” Mithali Raj added.
She was also very critical of the fitness levels of some of their players, which she felt contributed to the dropping of catches. Apart from Radha Yadav and Rodrigues, there was hardly anyone.
“In terms of fitness, we need to have a benchmark. Honestly, how much can you work in a month? It’s something that you do around the year. It’s not like just before the tournament, you have a camp. and it’s just going to show the difference on the field.” Mithali Raj concluded.