Mithali Raj: A legacy beyond cricket

Indian women used to play cricket in India even in the 19th century, though that was restricted to mostly the privileged. The Roshanara Ladies and the British High Commission competed for the Sir Terence Shone Trophy until 1972, the year before Mahendra Kumar Sharma founded the Women’s Cricket Association of India, marking the birth of organised cricket in India.

However, for years after that, the cricketers did not get paid to play. Some of them even paid out of their own pockets. They often travelled without reserved seats, especially for domestic matches, and were put up in sub-par facilities.

Railways were the first major team to have employees on their payroll solely for playing cricket, and Air India followed suit. The two sides recruited the best Indian talents. Raj still plays for the Railways.

But while this duopoly created cricket of the highest quality, it was still not easy for women in India to take up professional sport (it is not, even in 2022). They needed a role model, an icon, whom they could see.

Following India’s economic liberalisation in the early 1990s, satellite television spread to every nook and corner of the country. Cricket began to compete with news and soaps for the family slots on cable television. Advertisement rates soared.

And yet, as men’s cricket took off, women’s cricket in India took a nosedive. In the entire decade, India Women played eight Test matches and 26 ODIs. In the three-and-a-half years before Raj’s debut, the only international cricket they played was in the 1997 Women’s World Cup at home.

Thus, the fans never got to see enough of the top Indian cricketers of the second half of the 1990s, when satellite television reached every corner of the nation. Anjum Chopra, Anju Jain, Purnima Rau, Chanderkanta Kaul, even the legendary Neetu David could not inspire for no fault of theirs. Barring the niche sports magazines, few media house carried even the most basic photographs.

It was under these circumstances that Raj arrived on the scene. Jhulan Goswami, her colleague for over two decades, soon followed suit. Raj’s hundred on debut went unacknowledged even by the team, but her 214 at Taunton three years later made the nation take notice. It was, after all, the highest score by anyone in Women’s Test cricket at that point. At 598 minutes, it is still the longest innings.

To give an idea of how long ago she played this innings, Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh – Raj’s subsequent colleagues in the Indian side – were not yet born.

In 2003, Raj became the first female cricketer in 17 years to be honoured with the Arjuna Award. In 2004, she was named captain of India. In 2005, she led India to the World Cup final for the first time, top-scoring with an unbeaten 91 in the semi-final. India lost the final, but the Batch of 2005 inspired young Indian girls more than their predecessors ever did, for the final stages of the World Cup received media coverage back home.

An inspired Veda Krishnamurthy convinced her father to let her travel from Kadur to Bengaluru to attend trials. Smriti Mandhana of Sangli broke through to the Maharashtra Under-15s at the age of nine. Both would later play alongside Raj for India.

However, the most significant incident happened in 2006, when the BCCI absorbed the WCAI and took women’s cricket under its wings. India Women entered into its modern era. Raj’s international career was barely seven years old – less than a third of its eventual duration – but she already had more ODI runs than any Indian woman. At the time of her retirement, she has more runs than any two of them put together.

At 23, she was already the face of Indian cricket. That would not change over the next 16 years.

There was a blip towards the end of the decade. The knees began to pose a persistent problem. While she continued to score runs, she was replaced as captain. India had ordinary outings at the World Cup in 2009 and 2013, the latter, despite Raj’s reappointment.

In 2017, however, India defied all odds by qualifying for the final for the second time. Ahead of the tournament, Raj – by then a Padma Shri – was asked who her favourite male cricketer was. Pat came the response: ‘Do you ask the same question to a male cricketer?’

Then came the runs. She had scored seven consecutive ODI 50s earlier that year – a record that still stands. Now, at the World Cup, she amassed 409 runs, just one run behind Tammy Beaumont, the leading run-scorer, and went past Charlotte Edwards’ tally of most ODI runs. She would retire with almost 2,000 more runs than anyone else.

But that was not all she did. An year prior, in 2016, she had requested the BCCI to grant the Indian cricketers a no-objection certificate to participate in the Women’s Big Bash League. Now, responding to the unprecedented buzz around the World Cup, she insisted on a Women’s Indian Premier League (WIPL).

Raj’s requests, and the popularity of the team she had led for so many years, worked. That year, the BCCI announced central contracts for the women for the first time. The contracts offered significantly less than the ones issued to their male counterparts – they still are – but it was at least a start.

The following year, the BCCI launched the Women’s T20 Challenge on an experimental basis. It remains a farcically small tournament, but the calls for a full-fledged WIPL seem to get louder and louder with every year. As things stand now, it is likely to start in 2023.

If that happens, if there is enough money to inspire Indian women to become professional cricketers and attain financial independence, Raj’s legacy will outgrow her glittering career, for she was the first great role model of the televised era.

If you scroll up to the start of this piece, you will realise how much has changed in women’s cricket in India – all of it over Raj’s career. Hers will be enormous shoes to fill, for the responsibility is likely to stretch beyond the sporting arena.

Mithali Raj announced her retirement from international cricket on June 8, 2022.