Mithali Raj Opens Up On Life After Retirement And Her Rich Legacy

Former Indian women's cricket team captain Mithali Raj said goodbye to cricket last week after a 23-year-long cricket career. She quit as the leading run-scorer in women's international cricket. Apart from her "Bradman-esque" contribution to women's cricket, she'll be remembered for all that she has done to bring the women's game into the mainstream in India. Mithali spoke exclusively with NDTV. Here's an excerpt

Rica: Mithali, for half of your life you have been in camps and packing your bags. Has it sunk in that there are things that you may not have to do anymore now?   Mithali: I think my routine definitely has changed. I don't have to now get up early in the morning and plan my day or plan a week or plan the preparation for the next series. In that sense, yes, the life has slowed down a little bit and there is time for a lot many other things which I could not pursue, when I started playing cricket.

Rica: Do you have any plans of getting back to Bharatnatyam?  Mithali: I don't know, I might just probably give it a try, but right now I have not really thought much about going back to dance. It's been a very long time when I switched from dance to cricket, but when it comes to reading, sketching, these are certain things that I've really enjoyed over the years but never could get much time to invest in those things. So maybe I will try to take them up as a hobby. Rica: Mithali, at what moment did you think that it was the right time to let go of a 23-year long career? Was it after the loss in New Zealand? Mithali: No, when it came to my retirement, I was very clear a couple of years back itself that World Cup will be my swansong. There were a few interviews in which I had already mentioned that.

I needed to deal