The Indian women’s cricket team captain Mithali Raj, who led the Indian team to the final of the ICC Women’s World Cup held earlier this year in England & Wales, recently opened up on the struggles she faced and also revealed that as a national team player she had travelled unreserved in a train.
Mithali Raj was present at the We The Women summit moderated by journalist Barkha Dutt at Mehboob Studio in Mumbai on December 11 evening. During the discussion on ‘recognise the magnificent contribution of women in our society’, Mithali said,
There were a lot of struggles in my journey. Now we are under the BCCI, but that time (when women cricketers were not under the board), the normal basic facility which a sports person gets to play even (we did not get). As an India cricketer, I have travelled unreserved from Hyderabad to Delhi by train, as an India player.
She added,
Once Rahul Dravid said that he has never travelled in a train as an India player, but I did. But those difficulties make us strong. As women, we face so many challenges at an early stage, that when we mature and take up the challenges, we become so strong mentally, that we can do so many things, that we ourselves don’t believe that we are capable of.
Mithali also recalled that her grandparents were not comfortable when she took up sports.
I am from South India, my grandparents were not comfortable that I was playing a sport (cricket). My parents had to bear a lot, but they have cocooned my life in a such a way, that I did not have to deal with the negativity.
Besides Mithali, the event witnessed speakers from different walks of life including Textile and I&B Minister Smriti Irani, wrestler Sakshi Malik, Ekta Kapoor and others.
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Union I&B Minister Smriti Irani said that time had come for women to stand up for themselves and gain the power to empower themselves. Smriti Irani also said that it were not the clothes that defined a woman’s identity but her work that does.
