My spike got stuck and I couldn't even make an effort to dive, says Mithali Raj about her bizarre run-out in ICC WWC final

PTI

New Delhi: Team India faced a heartbreaking defeat to hosts England at Lord's on Sunday when they lost by mere nine runs. There were few moments that revealed they panicked whilst playing at the bigger stage and two rare incidents of run outs that ended in part if India's defeat. One of which involved the skipper Mithali Raj.

It was in the 13th over of their innings and Laura Marsh was into the attack. Punam Raut had drifted the spin down the leg side and called for a single. Mithali, responding to it, had taken a sprint, left her efforts halfway through. At least that is what it seemed. She didn't make the effort to dive, as Natalie Sciver at short midwicket bulleted it down to the wicketkeeper and the rest was done by Sarah Taylor.

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It did seem rather bizarre for Mithali as her heroics fell short off by just a few centimetres. But the captain finally came forth on Monday, to reveal what had actually gone wrong, there at the pitch.

In an interview to TOI, Mithali revealed,"My spike got stuck on the pitch. Punam called me for a run and I responded. Before I reached the half way, this thing (spike getting stuck) happened and I don't think the TV cameras captured it. I couldn't push myself hard and couldn't even make an effort to dive. I was helpless. I was gutted."

Mithali felt that since the cameras failed to capture that moment clearly, she found some weird stuff written on social media about the incident.

Mithali, however, seemed rather confident that the team does have chances to win the trophy four years later. "This team is only going to get better from now on. We have experienced campaigners like Harmanpreet, Veda, Punam and they should see to it that they pass on the experience to younger girls. It's their duty to mould the youngsters after Jhulan and I leave the stage," she said.