Former captain Mithali Raj stresses seizing crucial moments as key to India’s World Cup win, says a home triumph would boost women’s cricket, and highlights Kranti Goud as a potential game-changing player.
Former India skipper Mithali Raj has revealed what she believes Team India needs to do if they are to win a first ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup title later this year, as per the official website of ICC.
The Asian side will head into this year’s tournament on home soil as one of the favourites to claim the famous trophy, though the likes of seven-time champions Australia and four-time winners England will be standing in their way as India attempt to clinch their maiden World Cup title.
‘Seize those small moments’
If India are to go all the way and win a first World Cup trophy, Raj thinks the side must make the most of their chances and do the little things well during the eight-team tournament that commences on September 30.
“I think (India) needs to seize those small moments during the big games,” Raj told ICC Digital recently, as quoted from the official website of ICC.
“That’s where the balance (is) of the teams which are in contention,” she added.
“They try and use more of those moments and try to shift the momentum to their side, and India need to seize those moments,” she said. Raj famously led India to a pair of World Cup finals in 2005 and 2017, but the side fell at the final hurdle on both occasions as that elusive title remained out of grasp.
Raj’s impact on Indian women’s cricket with World Cup win
The former India skipper believes a World Cup title would have a massive impact on the women’s game in India should they be able to hold aloft the trophy on November 2.
“I think it would be huge,” Raj commenced.
“I mean, that is something that all the players, whoever picks up the bat, whoever wants to represent the country would want to win the World Cup because so far India hasn’t,” she said.
“Yes, we’ve come close twice, but we haven’t got our hands on the Cup,” she added.
“It would be great to win a World Cup at home because that’s a very different stage altogether…and giving all of us an opportunity to see that,” Raj said.
Mithali Raj picks an Indian player to make an impact
While the likes of skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, and Smriti Mandhana will attract a lot of the headlines heading into the tournament, Raj believes it will be how the next batch of stars perform that will decide India’s fate.
Raj nominated inexperienced seamer Kranti Goud as a player she thinks might have a major impact at this year’s World Cup, despite the fact that the 22-year-old has only played four ODIs for her country.
“I was quite impressed with Kranti Goud in England with her raw talent,” Raj noted.
“She has played WPL (Women’s Premier League), but she does not really have that much experience,” she said.
“But the grit that she gets as a seamer trying to keep pegging in and getting wickets (is impressive,) and she picked up a six-wicket haul (in England) as well so I would love to see her in the World Cup playing at home,” she added.