Mithali Raj reveals how Sachin Tendulkar's advice helped her during South Africa tour

Former India Women's captain Mithali Raj recently revealed how a technical advice from Sachin Tendulkar helped her turn things around during India's 2018 tour of South Africa. That advice proved so effective that she ended up as the top-scorer across both teams (192 runs in four innings) in the T20I segment of the tour.

Tendulkar helped Mithali address the concern of her delayed reflexes which was hindering her game. Tendulkar advised her to train with a reduction in length of the pitch from the usual 22 yards to 18 yards. He had also suggested to her to play the ball as late as possible during her stint in South Africa.

"I once told him I am also in a phase where I am getting old, I know my movements become slow. But I asked him how he practiced. He gave me a tip. He said me to reduce the distance of the yards. Make it 18 from 22 and play fast bowlers. I told my coach to try this. You won't believe, in South Africa in 2018, I was the Women of the Series for T20Is. There was an effect. It was in South Africa, so he also told me not to commit to the ball earlier as there will be bouncy tracks," Mithali revealed during an interaction with The Lallantop.

During the same conversation, she also spoke on the grace with which Tendulkar carried himself as one of the reasons behind her admiration for Tendulkar.

In the 232 ODIs (211 innings) Mithali played for India Women, she amassed 7805 runs at a remarkable average of 50.68. Like Tendulkar, she leads the all-time run-scoring charts ODIs in the women's game. Tendulkar amassed 18426 runs in 463 matches (452 innings) in a stellar career for the Indian team. Both of them have been instrumental in inspiring the younger generation to take up cricket.