‘Brushed my teeth, watched Mithali bat, slept off again’ – Mithali Raj under fire after go-slow approach in WC game vs Pakistan

India captain Mithali Raj was once again at the receiving end of criticism for her strike-rate amongst the rising fanbase of the Indian women’s game. Raj went at a snail-like speed through her innings in the ICC Women’s World Cup encounter against Pakistan on Sunday (March 6).

Walking into bat at No.4, with India aiming to put a sizeable score on the board for their arch-rivals in Mount Maunganui, Mithali scored only 9 runs off 36 balls, going at a shockingly low strike-rate of 25.

Mithali’s innings sucked the flow out of the Indian innings as they went from a relatively healthy rate at 96/2 in 22 overs to 114/5 in 33 overs when she was dismissed.

Also Read – Mithali Raj Wants Women’s IPL Next Year, Says BCCI Shouldn’t Wait Forever

Mithali Raj has been struggling with her strike-rate for a while in ODIs.

Fans unleash wrath over Mithali Raj’s snail-like effort against Pakistan

With millions of passionate Indian fans watching and hoping for their team’s successful start to the World Cup, it was obvious that such a lacklustre effort was not going to fly under the radar. Mithali Raj faced heavy criticism for her batting, with fans reacting in anger over Twitter.

Here is how few of them reacted:

Mithali’s Wicket Costed Pakistan a lot…
We Should have let her bat..#INDvPAK

— Fatima Mohsin (@MahamOfficial_2) March 6, 2022

Mithali Raj’s average ODI score since Jan 1 2018 is 38 off 58 balls#WomensWorldCup2022 #INDvPAK

— Hriday Shah (@HridayShah15) March 6, 2022

Now coming to the hard part,

Shafali as usual disappoints. It’s becoming harder day by day to back her.

Harman’s typical 5 in 20 ball innings that we have been seeing for so long.

Mithali would really like the forget today’s innings. It was horrible to say the least #cwc22

— Poulami #CWC22 (@Crictopher17) March 6, 2022

9(36) is unacceptable when you are coming at 96-2 around 20 overs, even though there was collapse after that, you can’t play with this poor.
It’s really pains when people compare Sachin and Mithali playing their last wc.
One was still dominating and other just burden to team.

— Guru (@okguru123) March 6, 2022

Mithali walked in at 96/2. India have scored 8 runs in 5 overs since then

— AA (@Ayushxa) March 6, 2022

I brushed my teeth and watched Mithali bat, I fell asleep again

— sudhanshu’ (@whoshud) March 6, 2022

Mithali Raj’s wicket was blessing in disguise for India. #CWC22

— Umakant (@Umakant_27) March 6, 2022

For those following the Indian women’s cricket closely, it wouldn’t come as a surprise that an innings from Mithali Raj is under such scrutiny. The experienced Indian batter has been a longstanding servant of Indian cricket but her batting has perhaps not kept up with the pace of the modern-day game.

Since the start of 2018, Mithali has averaged an impressive 51.50 for her 38 ODI innings but her strike-rate has been as low as just 64.63. It has meant that every time she has batted and batted long for India, Mithali has not only stalled the Indian innings but created pressure on other young batters to pick up the pace and keep the innings going.

Against good quality attacks, such a scenario means less experienced players having to take more risks and they lose their wickets in the process. Mithali has been constantly queried over her strike-rate in the press and has kept denying it is a problem.