Skipper says needs time before taking a call
Skipper Mithali Raj and pace ace Jhulan Goswami's World Cup dreams ended in heartbreak on Sunday. While a three-wicket loss to South Africa in Christchurch brought the curtains down on India's campaign, Mithali was evasive about the road ahead for her.
"It will not be appropriate for me to comment on anything, considering the sort of game that we just played, and the emotions are still there. So, it needs to settle down before I have a clarity on that and give an answer," she said.
Asked about handing over the baton to the younger generation, Mithali explained, "There will be generations of players coming and going, the team will have to get going after every World Cup, there is always a change in the team. There'll be fresh faces in, there will be some experienced players as well. So, I think every team has to go through this process of rebuilding a team after the World Cup and prepare for the coming World Cups in another four years. We are no different, probably the Indian team also will go through the same transformation."
Pointing to a bright future, Mithali, a veteran of six World Cups in the format, added, "I think the future definitely is very bright looking at Richa (Ghosh), Yastika, Sneh Rana and Meghna Singh. In the coming years, these girls will definitely play a good standard of cricket. I'm sure the team will shape up well. " India ended the tournament with three wins and four losses and Mithali felt the successive losses to Australia and New Zealand hurt the team's chances.
"There've been ups and downs. We've done well against the West Indies, but we lost against England, Australia and New Zealand. So, we did mix it up a little bit in the initial phase of the tournament. But I guess the way we made a comeback, even in today's game, the way the girls have responded, whether it is bowling or batting, I think they've done really well," she said.
