Mithali Raj

“But if you have live matches and there is TV coverage, I'm sure you have more viewership because people would love to see women's cricket again on television.”

“Obviously, we don't want to go into a World Cup thinking low about the team. We are very positive and had some good practice matches, which should give us confidence.”

“With more sponsors coming in, media engagements happening, and matches being televised, youngsters can get carried away. In such a scenario, a mentor can step in and help in channelising the cricketers' energies into the sport.”

“My teammates will tell you I find it hard to remember what happened two weeks earlier, let alone what happened a decade and a half back.”

“Having captained India for long, it is habitual to discuss with my mates and assess the bowling changes, the bowling changes, the field setting that the opposing captain would do.”

“My dad and some of them felt I should be playing on home soil and retire in front of the home crowd.”

“Sometimes, I sketch, but not every day. I sketch random things, whatever I can get my mind into. I'm not a professional, it is just a hobby I've started.”

“The World Cup, as an event, carries a lot of pressure, irrespective of the number of caps you have earned, and the pressure doubles when you play at home.”

“As a young kid in the beginning, I myself did not know that there was women's cricket in India or that there is an Indian women's cricket team.”

“But once you get accepted and are trained under the best coaches, these things really help boost your confidence level.”

“I am from a south Indian Tamilian family, so all my cousins are into academics and I alone was in sports.”

“When we left Mumbai to play in the World Cup there were hardly any journalists to see us off. But when we returned to India on July 25 having made the final, there were close to a hundred journalists at 2.30 in the morning. It was totally new.”

“If you keep winning, people will stay glued to our cricket.”

“There are some people who feel that they deserve a particular award or recognition, but I don't fall in that category.”

“But growing as an India cricketer it was about the blue jersey and the pride we all felt wearing that jersey.”

“I love sleeping and to inculcate the habit of early rising, my dad forced me to take up a sport. That was the only reason I started playing cricket in the first place. And thereafter it continued.”

“I am very laidback and I take it as it comes.”

“It is the pride to play for India that keeps me going. Not many get a chance to play for India and I feel very fortunate to be still playing. The will to do well for India is a big motivation.”

“A lot of parents today come forward to encourage their daughters to take up sport because they feel women's cricket is growing in India and they can make a profession out of it.”

“I think we are still on the lookout for a left-arm spinner who can at least be closer to what Neetu David has been for women's cricket.”