Indian women’s team skipper Mithali Raj feels they should not be compared to their male counterparts and laments the lack of recognition despite representing a country where the sport reigns supreme.
Raj was attending the opening dinner and media round-table event on the eve of the Women’s World Cup. The 34-year-old pointed out that the Indian women do not receive the same amount of publicity as the men.
“There’s a lot of difference because we are not a regular on television. Now the BCCI has made an effort that the last two home series have been televised and social media has improved a lot of it but there is a still a lot of catch-up to do in terms of recognition,” she said.
Raj explained that her team has benefited under the guidance of coach Tushar Arothe. “Men’s cricket sets the bar. We are always trying to reach where they set the standard. All of us follow men’s cricket because we want at some point that women’s cricket would be up there,” she said.
Raj added: “All of us at some point have been coached by a male cricketer. I strongly believe that they get a lot of intensity into the training sessions. They are very hard taskmasters.
“I believe that if you are representing your country, your country should get the best of the best. It’s nothing to do with women coaches (who) don’t have the ability.”
The veteran player came up with a witty response when asked who her favourite men’s cricketer was between India and Pakistan. “Do you ask the same question to a male cricketer? Do you ask them who their favourite female cricketer is?” she said to the scribe in question.
“I have always been asked who’s your favourite cricketer but you should ask them who their favourite female cricketer is.”