I don't seek validation from people: Mithali Raj on strike rate criticism

Tags: India Women, Mithali Raj, England Women vs India Women, 3rd ODI at Worcester, Jul 03, 2021

Published on: Jul 05, 2021

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India Women’s Test and ODI skipper Mithali Raj has stated that she doesn’t seek validation from people as she has been playing cricket for such a long time. Raj was reacting to a query, surrounding criticism of her strike rate.

The Indian captain contributed an unbeaten 75 off 86 balls in the third ODI against England to take the visitors to a consolation win. During the knock, she also became the leading run-getter in women’s international cricket across formats, going past Charlotte Edwards

At a virtual press conference, Raj stated that, as an experienced cricketer, she knows what her responsibility is. The 38-year-old was quoted as saying, "I don't seek validation from people after playing for so long. I do read that the criticism is about my strike rate, but as I have said earlier also, I don't seek validation from people. I've played for a long time and I know that I have a certain responsibility in the team.”

Raj added that she doesn’t look to please people and instead just lets her bat do the talking. "I don't look to please people. I'm here to play the role that is assigned to me by the team management. When you're chasing a target you pick your bowlers, you pick your length, you pick the areas," added Raj.

"Because I'm in good flow, I need to make the best use of me in the middle and the entire batting unit revolves around me," she further explained.

The India Women’s captain played an excellent knock in the third ODI, to take the team home in the tense chase. On how she planned her innings, Raj explained, "That's the job that is given to me by the coach and I look forward to sort of not get bogged down because at some point I know that the top order is already in the dugout and it was important for me to understand the situation and how I can manoeuvre and try to get the match close as possible with the batters who are yet to come."

India Women will now face England Women in three T20Is, with Harmanpreet Kaur taking over as captain from Raj.

--By A Cricket Correspondent

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