“A prophet is honoured everywhere except in his own hometown.” This saying is so very true in the case of Indian women’s cricket team skipper Mithali Raj.
The 34-year-old Hyderabadi, who made her international debut at the young age of 16, is known all over the world as the ‘Sachin Tendulkar’ of women’s cricket for her exploits with the bat but back home successive state governments have given her the cold shoulder.
Mithali, who lead the Indian team to the 2017 World Cup final which they lost to England last Sunday, has been struggling for well over 11 years to get the plot of land (500 yards) which was promised to her by the erstwhile government of late YS Rajasekhara Reddy.
A couple of state governments have offered goodies for their players. Punjab and Himachal Pradesh have offered DSP posts for Harmanpreet Kaur and Sushma Verma, while the Madhya Pradesh government has promised to give Rs 50 for the team.
However, there has been a chilling silence in the power corridors of the Telangana government. Barring a congratulatory message from Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on the team reaching the final, the government has shown no inclination to honour its ‘daughter of the soil’.
What is jarring is the fact that the state had lavished its goodies on other star players like Sania Mirza and PV Sindhu but has completely ignored the exploits of Mithali, who has been scaling new peaks each season.
The world’s leading run-getter in women’s ODIs, Mithali’s woes began way back in 2005. After reaching the final of the 2005 World Cup which India lost to Australia, she was rewarded with Rs 5 lakh and promised 500 square yards of land.
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