Sachin’s advice helped me reinvent my game: Mithali Raj

NEW DELHI: Having stayed at the top of their game for more than two decades, both Sachin Tendulkar and Mithali Raj are epitome of excellence and longevity in world of cricket.

While Tendulkar made people fall in love with the game, Mithali became the first superstar of women’s cricket in India.

However, self-doubt can creep even into the minds of greats like Tendulkar and Mithali.

Ahead of Tendulkar’s 50th birthday, Mithali spoke about her first interaction with him, the influence he had on her batting and on how a chat with the master blaster before the 2017 women’s World Cup helped reinvent her game.

“I still remember our conversation before the 2017 World Cup in England. After a group conversation, I had a one-on-one chat with him. I wanted to ask him how he was able to have such a long career and how he had to reinvent himself to face new bowlers of the younger generation,” Mithali said.

“When you have such a long career, every generation has stand-out bowlers, I wanted to know how he kept up with that. As you age, people start talking about your footwork getting slower, you are picking the line and length late and you are not quick on the ball.

“I wanted to know how he managed to overcome all that and be on top of his game. He did give suggestions and I tried to put that into training,” said Mithali, who ended up amassing 409 runs in the 2017 World Cup and captained India to the final.

Mithali recollected that she and Tendulkar did not talk a lot about technique as the conversation was mainly about the mental side of the game.

“We did not talk in depth about technique as everyone has different techniques. As a senior pro after playing for so long, all you can help is with the preparation advice to another player and he helped me with that.

“When you hear people talk about ‘oh she is nearing her retirement’ and you are keen to do really well in that stage and show age is not affecting your skill, that is where I thought he was the best person to reach out as he has gone through all of that,” she said.

This was 2017 but Mithali’s first meeting with Sachin happened 15 years earlier after she broke the record of the highest individual score in women’s Test cricket.

Women’s cricket did not get the due attention and facilities back then and Mithali and her teammates were star-struck in their first interaction with the batting maestro.

“In 2002, I was recognised at the Castrol awards which used to be for male cricketers. I was invited there. He (Tendulkar) came across as someone who was very curious about how we trained, what kind of facilities we had.”