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Mithali Raj made her international debut at the age of 16 and scored a century straightaway. Mithali looked like she was in a hurry to make her mark in international cricket but her father S. Dorai Raj describes her as a lazy girl. In fact, her laziness was one of the main reasons why her father took her to cricket practice.
Unusual beginnings
Mithali's first love was not cricket but Bharatnatyam. She continued to learn the dance form until she started going to her elder brother's cricket training at the St. John's Academy in Secunderabad. As it was an all-boys camp, all she did was throw the ball back whenever it came towards her.
The reason
The reason behind sending Mithali to her brother's practice was to wake her up early in the morning. As per excerpts from book Free Hit: The Story of Women's Cricket in India, written by Suprita Das, Mithali used to cry every morning and did not want to wake up early.
When it got serious
Going regularly to the nets, coach Jyothi Prasad who was also a friend of Mithali's father felt that she should also learn the game. Prasad had seen Mithali hit a few balls after the boys were done with their session.
Soon enough, the young girl started to impress Prasad with the way she learned the basics of the game. One fine day, Prasad told Mithali's father that she should take up cricket as a profession instead of her brother Mithun. He also said that there is much competition in men's cricket anyway.
Mithali started practicing regularly and soon enough got enrolled at Keyes High School's cricket team. Playing under coach Sampath Kumar changed Mithali's life as he told her father about her exceptional talent. He told them that she will go on to play for India as a teenager.
Coming from a Tamilian-Brahman family, she would have taken up medicine or engineering or something like civil services. However, Sampath convinced Mithali's parents and shared his vision. At one point, cricket took over Bharatnatyam and Mithali had to sacrifice her first love. She had support from her family and in no time her life revolved around cricket.
The dream realised
As her coach had envisioned, Mithali went on to make her debut as a 16-year-old. She also became the youngest batter to score an international century for India. Not only, she played for India over two decades, she broke several records, played to two 50-over World Cup finals and ended her career as the highest run-scorer in the ODI format.
