India women cricket team have put on brilliant performances in their last few ICC events. For some reasons, however, they haven’t been able to succumb to the pressure of knock-out games and hence, they felt short of the title. In the 2018 and 2020 edition of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, they were defeated in the semi-final respectively. They also lost the 2017 World Cup in the final. However, India’s WODI’s captain Mithali Raj doesn’t want to put a foot wrong in the 2021 World Cup as she’s aiming to give her ‘best shot’ in the gala tournament. BCCI Should Not 'Wait Forever' to Organise Women's IPL by 2021, Says Mithali Raj.

Speaking to former Australia women team captain Lisa Sthalekar during the live Instagram session, the veteran cricketer said that ‘it hurts’ not winning the title even once despite featuring in five 50-over World Cup matches. "That really hurts, for me so many years Jhulan and I have played 4-5 World Cups, one-days and T20s but never could get our hands on the trophies. Yeah, that is something I want to give it the best shot in 2021," said Mithali Raj.

Talking about the postponement of the tournament amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the 37-year old said that she and her teammate Jhulan Goswami will have to train even harder if the start of the tournament is delayed. "Don't push it further. The more you push then maybe me and Jhulan will have to work more on our fitness," she added.

Making her World Cup debut in 2000, the highest run-scorer in Women’s ODI has represented India in five 50-Over World Cups and six 20-Over World Cups. However, she hasn’t been able to lift the trophy even once. Raj and Goswami bid adieu to the shortest format of the game in 2018 but continue to be a vital cog in the side’s ODI set-up.

The 2021 edition of the Women’s World Cup, which will be played in New Zealand, is scheduled to get underway on February 6. However, the showpiece tournament can well be postponed owing to the global health scare.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 01, 2020 03:47 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).