New Delhi, March 16 (IANS) Legendary India batter Mithali Raj has hailed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for driving a transformation in the women's game after receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award at the recently held annual awards ceremony.

Mithali retired from international cricket in 2022 as the all-time leading run-scorer in women’s cricket, after having played 12 Tests, 232 ODIs, and 89 T20Is for India in a 23-year career. “I think there are so many people who played a huge role in my career, just not my parents. Of course, I've had a lot of support from other coaches, players, and various mentors.

“But as a sport, I've seen the evolution of women's cricket, and there are so many other people that I need to acknowledge. Like BCCI playing a very vital role and the support of BCCI and even Jay (Shah) sir, because in the last 4-5 years, there's been a huge transformation of the Indian women's cricket team, and that is because of that one person.

“The way his vision and commitment are towards, just not in a country but globally also, he's put in so much effort to enhance and promote women's cricket's profile. It shows that he's a visionary and he's so committed to this cause, and you can see the result,” said Mithali in a video release by the BCCI on Monday.

She also said the recent success of Indian cricket at all levels and across genders had been a source of immense pride. “Then, the last 2-3 years, Indian cricket, men or women or the under-19 girls or boys, they've been doing immensely well, and it's a proud moment as a former cricketer to see the growth of Indian cricket, and for the longest time, I wanted Indian cricket to dominate, and the time has come.”

She also talked about taking inspiration from legendary batters Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid while meeting them in her playing days. “Well, I think everything takes time. Even women's cricket had its own journey, so did men's cricket. But we've taken a lot of inspiration from the male cricketers.

“I've taken inspiration from Rahul and Sachin because whenever I've bumped into them in NCA or the COE, they've always had a lot to chat about sport, batting, and the advice and suggestions really worked for me when I was playing. This interaction between the men and women, I think, helps the women cricketers greatly because we're always trying to catch up with the standards of men's cricket.

“In that context, both of them have been doing well. So, as a former cricketer, as I said, it's just that time where you just want to sit back and see and take pride in the evolution of women's cricket and see the current generation playing a fearless brand of cricket and getting the silverware. When walking through for the event, I've seen like four or five trophies, and it's so good to walk past that,” she concluded.

--IANS

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