After her latest feat of becoming the first woman to play 200 matches in the ODI format, Indian women cricket team's seniormost player Mithali Raj is likely to retire from T20 International soon after the home series against England ends, PTI reported.
She is contemplating retirement from T20 as she wants to focus on her One Day International career
Mithali is the captain of the Women’s ODI team and wants to give Harmanpreet Kaur the authority on the T20 team so she could bring the best for the 2020 T20 World Cup. "Mithali understands that skipper Harmanpreet Kaur will like to concentrate on building a team for the 2020 World T20 and that she is unlikely to feature in that tournament," a senior BCCI official told PTI. "But a player of her stature should get a warm send-off and that is likely to be against England."
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READ: Mithali Raj To Write Her Memoir
Mithali has recorded the highest score by an Indian woman in T20s. The 35-year-old right-handed batswoman became the first Indian cricketer to score 2000 runs in Twenty20 Internationals (T20I). While India’s three-match T20 series against New Zealand starts in Wellington on Wednesday, it is unclear whether Mithali will be a part of the playing XI.
“It is still not sure whether she would like to play the full series against England or like former men’s team pacer Ashish Nehra, play the first game of the series and retire,” the official added.
Mithali Raj is a powerful sporting icon who has become a household name, particularly after the team’s performance during 2017 Women’s World Cup in England. But currently her slow strike rate and fielding ability is the reason why she is likely to be dropped by the team management. Also, the controversy surrounding Mithali's allegations against Committee of Administrators (CoA) member Diana Edulji and chief coach Ramesh Powar, that they were trying to ruin her career, is also the biggest reason here. India took a bold decision to drop Mithali for the World T20 semi-final against England.
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