“As a woman cricketer, I have struggled so much and I wouldn’t want to be represented as anyone else but me.”

Mithali explains rightly as to how even though it’s a matter of high standing being known as the ‘Tendulkar of women’s cricket’, on the flip side it brushes aside all the struggles she has undertaken to be a woman cricketer. “Initially when they said that, it was a huge honor for me. No sportsperson in our country has reached those milestones that Tendulkar has. So if people relate to me as him, then that says a lot. But on the contrary, as a woman cricketer, I have struggled so much and I wouldn’t want to be represented as anyone else but me. For so many years, I have given my time, sweat and blood to create my own individual identity.”

“Records are meant to be broken, and they are never planned.”

In a test match, as a vice captain of the team, with one batsman short, the responsibility dawned on her to not let the shortage affect the team’s overall performance. “All I wanted to do was just play throughout. I didn’t know I would be nearing a record. I wanted the team to be in a better position at the end of the game. And thinking of the same, I broke the world record. Records are meant to be broken, and they are never planned.”Mithali scored a marvelous 214, breaking the record of the world’s highest individual scorer and she is continuing to raise the bar.