Mithali Raj played golf to bring power and variety in her strokes: Coach

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Hyderabad, July 14: Murthy Rayaprolu has been the coach of Mithali Raj since 2010, when the captain of Indian women's team joined Indian Railways in Hyderabad.

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Being a regular coach at St. John's Cricket Academy, Murthy had a chance to give practice to Mithali a year before she joined Indian Railways.

Speaking from Hyderabad on Thursday (July 13) over phone, Murthy said, “I can still remember the first day of Mithali's training at the Railway team's nets. She came to me and said I could even rebuke her if I found anything wrong in her batting or if I saw lack of seriousness in her practice. I was simply amazed to have watched such humbleness.

"You have to keep in mind that Mithali had already been a celebrity since 2010. She has already been bestowed with Arjuna as well as Padma award."

"I figured it out seven years back that Mithali will excel more and today, after she has become the highest scorer in the One-day International cricket I am the happiest person."

Mithali still takes suggestion from her coach before every match and before going to participate in every tournament Mithali sits with 'Murthy Sir' for discussion.

Murthy clarified, “I can recall that before World Cup T20I last year, one fine morning Mithali told me she would start playing golf! The reason behind such a plan was to bring more power and variety in her strokes as it was T20 tournament. She used to go to Hyderabad golf course to play golf there before coming back to academy start batting at the nets. Such was her dedication."

According to Murthy, Mithali always had the habit of batting against Under-19 boys at the academy and even now, when Mithali trains at the academy she asks for best bowlers from Under-19 boys team in the academy to bowl at her.

"She even bats against wet tennis ball if she has a tour ahead in South Africa due to fast and bouncy pitches there in the country. Mithali's dedication is simply unique and I believe she will excel more."

OneIndia News