Bengaluru, April 24: Indian women's team's seasoned campaigner Mithali Raj indicated that the 2022 50-over World Cup in New Zealand will be her swansong after 23 illustrious years in international cricket.
The 38-year-old, arguably, the finest woman cricketer that India has ever produced, also said that she is seriously looking for some good seam bowling options for the lively New Zealand tracks that will be on offer next year.
"It's been 21 years of international cricket and I know 2022 is my swansong, The World Cup," Mithali said during the virtual launch of the book '1971: The Beginning of India's Cricketing Greatness', published by Harper Collins and co-authored by Boria Majumdar and Gautam Bhattacharya.
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Mithali, the only women batter with 7000 plus ODI runs, also spoke about how she had to keep herself motivated during the COVID-19 times which also pushed the global event by one year.
"I know we're in difficult times but it takes a lot out of me to keep working on my fitness. I'm not getting any younger, in fact I'm getting older and I know the importance of fitness," MIthali said.
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Mithali also got some words of advice from the legendary Sunil Gavaskar, who was a co-panellist during the discussion.
Gavaskar feels that Mithali and her bunch could take a leaf out of Royal Challengers Bangalore and India captain Virat Kohli's playbook of looking at opponent's eyes and giving it back without getting intimidated.
Congrats @boriamajumdar on 1971. Look forward to being part of the launch tomorrow with #SunilGavaskar and Bharat Arun. On world book day this is one I will now read @HarperCollinsIN pic.twitter.com/eUzo51GJ4L
— Mithali Raj (@M_Raj03) April 23, 2021
"I was with my wife at Lord's watching the 2017 Women ODI World Cup final. What I saw was that English girls came hard at your lower order and intimidated them with their attitude," Gavaskar said.
"I would want the girls to glare back at the opposition instead of looking down. I feel body language is a very important aspect. Look at Virat (Kohli), he stares at opposition and the rest of the team does that," he added.
(With PTI inputs)