Title - The Hindu : FEATURES / DOWN TOWN : Women’s cricket confident of bringing back laurels

Indian women’s cricket captain Mithali Raj is confident about the prospects of her team putting up a much better performance in the next month’s T-20 World Cup in Colombo.

Mithali, the best women’s cricketer from India by virtue of her amazing statistics, feels that the recent national camp helped them identify the areas of focus and that the players responded well to the demands.

“We just hope to translate our potential into performance on the given day. For that is what matters ultimately,” says the South Central Railway staffer who trains at St. John’s Coaching Foundation in Secunderabad.

Mithali insists that the team has the perfect blend of experience and youthful exuberance. “There is no pressure of any kind on us. All that is expected of us is to go out there and not found to be wanting in terms of commitment and hard work,” she says.

Quite expectedly, this star cricketer from the city is also looking at putting her personal best as the leader of the side.

“It should be a great moment if we come up with a special performance. I remember how close we were in the 2003 World Cup (50 overs) and lost in the final,” she says looking back.

Incidentally, the Indian team has also another Hyderabadi - Gouher Sultana - and someone like Archana Das who learnt the basics here before moving to Kolkata.

To the delight of Mithali, Vidya Yadav, sister of BCCI vice-president N. Shivlal Yadav, is the manager of the Indian team for the T-20 World Cup. Familiarity and being in the comfort zone should only augur well for Mithali as Vidya has donned the role in the past too.