We are quite excited about playing Australia and even though this will be the first series in three years where I will not be captain, I can tell you it feels just the same. Nervous jitters and anticipation never go away.
I feel the series will be evenly contested because while India have just had a miserable tour of England, Australia are yet to recover from the Ashes defeat. In fact that may work to our advantage and the first few games will be vital.
I thought I would share some of my memories as Indian captain with you. I had got a few opportunities to lead the side before I took over at the World Cup and it was a great confidence-booster that nearly everybody said I had the qualities required in a captain. But my memories of captaining during the World Cup are a blur. I think I just went through the motions without really thinking about it. It was an emotional and action-packed experience and I never got the time to introspect.
After the World Cup I could take time to enjoy my role in the team. Our first series was against England at home which we won 4-1. Then came the Asia Cup, which we won for the second successive time but our tours of Australia and New Zealand were rather forgettable. All our Asia Cup campaigns have been successful and we need to see how we can translate the confidence we got from there to series in Australia, where we will be playing the World Cup in four months.
The most memorable moment of my captaincy was our Test series win in England. Anjum Chopra scored 98 and Jhulan Goswami took ten wickets in the match. In a five-day game the fortunes of a side fluctuate and that we held the advantage to make England follow on was truly special. The biggest regret would have to be our loss in the World Cup final. It hurts a lot once you have got so close to the title.
But overall captaincy was an eventful roller-coaster ride. It feels great when people recognise you as the leader of the Indian team but on the flipside you also get blamed for losses even when you’re helpless to avoid them. I tried to learn from both experiences and move on. In fact I would say that success all the time would have been monotonous.
Setbacks make you think harder about what you’re doing
What was most satisfactory was when we worked out a particular strategy for a team or a player and it clicked on the field. But more than anything I was proud to earn the respect of my players. I can honestly say that though I had a lot of friends in the side I never pushed anyone’s case for selection on the basis of my relationship with the player. I have tried to be true to my post and the fact that I never had to work to get the players to rally around me proves we had a great relationship.
Now its time to concentrate on my batting and hope we reverse our form from the England tour.
Good luck for the World Cup! I live in Sydney and I plan to attend every match. Good on you for bringing up women's cricket in India! Hope to see India winning the finals next year =)
Posted by: Chandra Sekhar at October 31, 2008 12:13 AM
I have been a great fan of Mithali Raj eversince I started following Womens' Cricket, and it is so refreshing to see that she has as much of a level-headed and classy outlook off the field as she has demonstrated on it. Though I have nothing against Jhulan Goswami, I do wonder why they made a change just based on results in England. They should realise that a Captain is only as good as a team, and barring a couple of players, the team-effort in England was lackadaisical. What I admire is how sportingly and gracefully Mithali Raj has accepted this change and continued to perform well. I would like to wish her continued success, and I have no doubt she will eventually end up in position 1 in the world batting ranking.
May the team come back from Australia with wins and chins held up!
Posted by: Ananya Upendran at November 1, 2008 4:40 AM
All the best for the tour of Australia! I hope that goes well!
Posted by: Aditya Mookerjee at November 9, 2008 8:21 AM
I prefer to watch ladies cricket to have a more relaxing experience. I believe ladies cricket is played because the ladies in mention play purely for the love of the game, and there is less attrition on the cricket pitch, when there is a ladies cricket match in progress.
Posted by: Martelize van der Merwe (Smartie) at November 11, 2008 7:03 AM
Im a great fan of India and was sad to hear that it didn't go to well in Australia. I trust India will soon reach the top level I saw during the 2005 Womens World Cup in South Africa.
Posted by: Joseph Morais at November 11, 2008 11:15 AM
Mithali has been very inspirational player for India, Wish her all success in future
Posted by: krkprasad at November 11, 2008 4:29 PM
Really what a disgusting show has been from our Indian Women's Cricket Team.
They do not deserve least sympathy.
Getting drubbed or what might you can call cleanly defeated by not so a great team.
Very disheartening show this.
Hope this will continue for long time to come.
Posted by: anit kaur at January 2, 2009 5:56 AM
best of luck to all players of various nation play well i love to play cricket hope one day i am also playing for my country chak de india i an medium pacer bowler so be scared and wait for me
Mithali Raj, India's former captain, has been on the international circuit for a decade. In August 2006, she led India to their first-ever Test and series win in England and capped off the year by winning the Asia Cup - the second time in 12 months - without dropping a game. India, under her captaincy, also reached the World Cup final in 2005. Now, as one of the senior members of the side, and the premier batsman, a lot will be riding on her for the two World Cups - 50-over and Twenty20 - that India will play in 2009.
Urooj Mumtaz managed to juggle a course in dentistry along with captaining Pakistan. Their most recent triumph was qualifying for the World Cup next year and the 22-year old Urooj will lead a young team to Australia in hope of creating a favourable impression of the Pakistan women's team among the other sides as well as back home. A legspinner, she has a hat-trick against Zimbabwe.
Cri-zelda Brits became South Africa’s captain at the age of 23, standing in for Shandre Fritze in the home series against Pakistan in 2007. She followed this by captaining the side to a 3-0 series whitewash against the Netherlands as well as winning the first-ever Test between the two sides by 159 runs. In 2008 she scored her maiden ODI hundred and led South Africa to a spot in the World Cup after beating Pakistan in the Qualifiers final in Stellenbosch. She also coaches the Northwest women's team, based in Potchefstroom, and runs her own academy.
Shelley Nitschke combines playing for Australia and her state with working in cricket, as a school officer. A useful spinner, her batting is also worth talking about – she has developed into a handy allrounder. Her major achievements to date are winning the 2005 World Cup, taking 7 for 24 against England in Kidderminster in 2005 and being nominated for the ICC Women's Player of the Year in 2006-07. Although she has played netball, softball and basketball, cricket has always been her stand-out sport.
Ebony Rainford-Brent made history as one of eight England players to be handed a Chance to Shine coaching contract, allowing her flexibility around training. A top-order batsman, she fought back from what doctors thought was a career-killing back injury and could one day bowl again – calling her determined is an understatement. She is on the Surrey Academy and her Super 4s side is Diamonds. Proficient in basketball and athletics, she settled for playing cricket … and the drums.
Haidee Tiffen has played for New Zealand for more than ten years and is now their captain, having begun her career with Otago Under-21s before heading to Canterbury. She has played representational hockey, basketball and rugby – but cricket is her passion and won out over New Zealand junior hockey. She is particularly proud of winning the World Cup in 2000, reaching the 100-ODI milestone and being skipper. Her experience also includes playing for Sussex for two winters and she was also part of the first female academy in Lincoln. Somehow she also finds time to teach Health and PE at Hillmorton High School.
Isobel Joyce,a class bat with a steely mentality, comes from a family full of cricketers - twin sister Cecilia plays alongside her for Ireland and brother Dom for the men’s national team, while another brother, Ed, plays for England and Middlesex. Her first half-century came against a strong New Zealand attack in Dublin in 2004 and her figures of 4 for 20 helped her side beat Scotland by six wickets in the European Championship in 2001, where Ireland won all their three matches. Her 46 against Netherlands in the summer of 2007 helped to maintain her place in the World Cup qualifiers in South Africa. She was in outstanding form with both and ball during the tournament, scoring 148 runs at 37 and taking 10 wickets at an average of 7. She ran out five Pakistani players in Ireland's first match, before earning two successive Player-of-the-Match awards against Scotland and then Zimbabwe, against whom she scored 70 and took 4 for 10. She was named captain for their next series, against West Indies, after Heather Whelan pulled out because she was expecting.
Nadine George has been a regular for West Indies since her debut in 1999. She first led the side on their tour of Europe in June-July 2008, when West Indies thrashed Ireland and Netherlands while putting up a respectable performance against England. Nadine combines playing for West Indies and her national team, St.Lucia, with her day job as a Sergeant in the Police Marine Unit of the Royal St.Lucia Police Force. A left-hand batsman and wicketkeeper, Nadine says the highlights of her career are receiving an MBE at Buckingham Palace in 2005, being the first West Indies woman cricketer to score a century in a Test (in Pakistan in 2004), playing in the World Cup in South Africa (2005), and playing club cricket in Australia in 2006. Nadine also plays netball and volleyball and loves the marine environment and is passionate about diving. She is a qualified open water diver and during her working hours captains a 65 and 82 ft vessel. Her motto in life is "with hard work and dedication one can achieve".
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