By Trisha Ghosal in Indore
The afternoon sun glinted off the freshly painted letters at the ACA-VDCA International Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, “Mithali Raj Stand.” It was more than a nameplate; it was the culmination of a journey that began in the shadows and ended in light.
As the Andhra Cricket Association unveiled the stand named after Mithali Raj in the presence of the ICC President Jay Shah, IT Minister Nara Lokesh, ACA President Kesineni Sivanath and other officials, ahead of the India–Australia Women’s World Cup fixture, the moment felt larger than ceremony. It felt like an acknowledgment, not just of a career, but of a movement.
Mithali Raj’s career never chased grand gestures. She was never one for flamboyance. Her batting wasn’t about fireworks; it was about foundation. Her leadership wasn’t about loud words; it was about calm conviction. In an era when women’s cricket in India struggled for basic visibility, she quietly built a legacy so unshakeable that the sport now stands tall upon it.
When Mithali began her journey in 1999, women’s cricket didn’t have televised tournaments or packed stadiums. Matches were played in front of empty stands, and resources were limited. Yet she persisted, season after season, series after series, crafting a body of work that would one day command the respect it always deserved. Her 23-year career yielded over 10,000 international runs, but her truest achievement was endurance. She stayed. She evolved. She gave the game a roadmap.
To understand why a stand bears her name, one must understand the quiet courage behind that number 10,868. It represents countless mornings of practice when the world wasn’t watching, and the discipline to play for love of the game, not for applause. It represents the resilience of a generation that had to justify its existence before earning admiration.
The Mithali Raj Stand in Vizag is therefore not just an honour; it is a symbol. It stands for the player who carried Indian women’s cricket through its most fragile years, who showed that professionalism could exist even without infrastructure, and who believed in her craft when the system did not yet believe in her.
Every young cricketer who walks into the stadium will now look up at that name and know what it represents, perseverance, integrity, and patience rewarded. The stand will whisper to them what Mithali’s career always said: take your innings deep, stay true to your purpose, and the game will give back.
Because in the end, the Mithali Raj Stand isn’t just made of concrete and paint. It’s built from years of honest hard work, proof that effort, even if unrecognised for a while, is never wasted.
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