Mithali Raj wanted to become a dancer

Both ODI and Test averages of the lady are above 50. In T20I as well, her average is around 40. She is Mithali Dorai Raj, the skipper of the Indian women cricket team. Mithali Raj became the first cricketer in the history of women’s ODI cricket to cross the 6000-run mark. In 183 matches, India‘s current leader in women’s circuit has scored 6028 runs. But she did not want to become a cricketer at the first place.

The Jodhpur-born lady had a deep interest in classical dance. Mithali was a good Bharatnatyam dancer, but density had written something else for her. Her father, Dorai Raj was an officer with the Indian Air Force and later joined Andhra Bank. He used to take his daughter to the St John’s coaching camp in Secunderabad when she was 10.

“Mithali was keen on becoming a dancer. However, destiny seemed to have had other plans for her,” revealed the proud father. R S R Murthy, who is seeing Mithali since her inception in Railways in 2000, heaped praises on the Indian skipper. “It’s a great achievement. I am feeling very happy. She achieved this milestone because of her hard work and dedication. I wish many more achievements in her career. She has become a role model, not only in the country but in the world. She made several sacrifices, cutting down on attending social events, for the sake of her career,” said Murthy while speaking to the PTI.

“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 a lack of seriousness in her practice. I was simply amazed to have watched such humbleness. 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,” he further added.

Raj played golf to increase strength

Murthy revealed how her student decided to play golf just for the sake of increasing her power and trying out a wider variety of shots. “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,” he revealed.

Dorai Raj used to take Mithali and her brother to the same academy. But as it turned out, Mithali was the more focused of the two. The late riser started to wake up early. According to Murthy, the dedication shown by Mithali was “unique”. He said, “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.”