The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Mithali predicts bright future

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Saturday, Apr 30, 2005

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Sport - Cricket

Mithali predicts bright future

Sports Reporter

BANGALORE: Women's cricket in India can only go up. That was the common refrain as Indian women's cricket team skipper Mithali Raj, off-spinner Nooshin Al Khader and wicket-keeper batswoman Karuna Jain spoke about their performance that earned them a runner-up slot in the recent World Cup at South Africa.

The trio, along with former captain Mamtha Maben, were felicitated in a function organised by the Karnataka Institute of Cricket (KIOC) at the RBANMS Ground here on Friday evening.

"It felt good to be in the final and we did believe that we can win and at one stage when Australia was 168 for three in 45 overs, we did believe that we were in the game but then we gave too many runs in the last five overs and while chasing we had those run-outs and lost too many wickets. But overall we have had a good year and we played about 22 one-dayers in 14 months, which while considering our past sequence of matches, is a major move ahead. All this exposure did help us to progress and it obviously reflected in our confidence in the World Cup," said Mithali, who played a captain's knock - a 92 - that guided India past New Zealand in the semi-final.

Nooshin Al Khader, who grew up in Bangalore before shifting to Hyderabad, was a touch nostalgic as she recounted her early days as a trainee at the KIOC Ground.

On the road ahead, Mithali said: "England will be here in November-December and then we will tour Australia next year. All these matches will help us gain more and obviously we are also looking ahead towards the next World Cup."

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