New round of Indian women's cricket team, team will go without Mithali and Jhulan in CWG 2022

For the past 25 years, this pairing of Mithali and Jhulan has been synonymous with Indian women's cricket. Mithali was 14 in 1997 when she was selected in India's 50-over World Cup squad on home soil. To this it could only be said that she was too young to make it to the playing XI. In the same edition Jhulan was a ball girl in that Australia Vs England final at the Eden Gardens. The Indian team will play the first match without Jhulan and Mithali in their debut match of the Commonwealth Games. Mithali and Jhulan have contributed a lot to the team for a long time.

Indian women's cricket has been given a new identity

Both these players have been a part of a historic journey. They were together from the Test victory in South Africa in 2002 to the World Cup runner-up in 2005. After this, beating England in Test cricket in 2006 and 2014 has been an important achievement of her career and India's women's cricket team. In the year 2016, by winning the series in Australia with eight new players, both these players gave a new direction to the team.

The condition of Indian women's cricket has changed

However, for the changes that came on the field, she also fought for the facilities available to women's cricket off the field. For this he also took on the BCCI. After their struggle, the era of second class train ended and women players started getting air tickets. In place of hotels with small rooms, good hotels started to be found.

Off the field, he inspired thousands of youth to play cricket. This was one of her biggest contributions but also she actively lobbied for central contracts for women players which eventually came into existence from 2016.

Has retired from T20 format

Jhulan had retired from T20 in 2018 and Mithali also said goodbye to the format in 2019. Yet she always had a presence in the team, as she was still an active 50-over player. In Mithali's case, being the captain meant that she still had a strong influence on the group. So even though Harmanpreet Kaur had a certain way of running the team in T20s, there was always a feeling that it was a team led by Mithali.

Mithali and Harmanpreet both captains of different styles

Mithali and Harmanpreet were captains of two different styles. Those who often needed to find a middle ground. In her first press conference on being named full-time ODI captain ahead of the Sri Lanka tour in June, Harmanpreet finally felt a sense of comfort that it was her team.