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Mithali Raj. India Captain. Women’s Cricket. That’s the proud identity the game has given me, the 31-year-old skipper tells  MEENAKSHI RAO  in an informal chat from Hyderabad. Excerpts You have been chosen captain of the World Cup XI. What does it mean to you and why do you think you scored over Heather Knight of England, South Africa’s Dane, Australia’s Meg Lanning? I don’t know why they have chosen me over them. The ICC chose me at a time when people had started questioning my captaincy, so it came as a real surprise to me. Yes, it is a huge honour which came to me maybe because of my team’s achievement or maybe because the jury found my leadership qualities better. As skipper of two stints, can you tell me more about captaining India as a woman cricketer? Aren’t the challenges very different from the men’s team, which is established and has a stable structure? 2005 and 2017 had more differences than similarities. In 2005, we did not have many facilities, we we...

MEENAKSHI RAO   sifts real 24 carat gold from a Kiwi river after an exhilarating drive up the second most dangerous road in the world, off Queenstown. A report Big and small amoeba-shaped stones, you can call them rocks actually, give the yellow glitter to most jewellery shops in the quaint Arrowtown. You would think they are pieces of modern art, meant to adorn a gold shop in golden yellow, resembling the expensive metal that generations have lusted for the world over. It’s only when your tour guide tells you these are real and solid 24 carat gold pieces harvested from the nearby river that your jaw actually drops. A 250 gram of one such rock, you are told, was harvested by an ordinary tourist like you 18 hours ago! Not that New Zealand takes these pieces of gold away from whoever harvests it. You can sell them and take the money home or take them home if you have harvested it from the river! Arrowtown gets its existence from the more than 200-year-old gold mining tale...

Our girls in cricket have the passion, power, and perseverance. All they need now is honing and hand-holding out of the humdrum. Time for sports administrators and popular mindsets to take their guard, says  MEENAKSHI RAO It was 2012. Mithali Raj was captaining India in an away series in England. The England Cricket Board (ECB) was in the process of taking out a pre-tournament guide with player information. Sachin Tendulkar happened to be in his favourite haunt London around that time. Asked by the ECB to comment on Mithali’s contribution to women’s cricket for a note on her in the booklet, the legend simply said: “Mithali is one of those cricketers who have achieved so much but she has not got what she deserves.” Tendulkar may have been talking about Mithali at that time but his opinion encapsulates the state of women’s cricket in India, and to a certain extent worldwide too. It’s been largely unsung, unwatched, unsponsored, ignored by the game’s administrators, deride...

Staycations have grown into a distinct segment over the past couple of years and local hotels have been cashing in big way on this trend, says   Meenakshi Rao Environment and the concern around global warming is big in minds worldwide and that has gone a long way in altering – or should we say enlightening – the Indian traveller too. Not just that, the growing awareness around carbon footprint and the public hesitance to contribute to it, not to mention the escalating travelling costs, have given rise to a trend that has been cruising for the past five years or so. If hospitality industry experts are to be believed, it is peaking this year. This travel trend is called Staycation, a family holiday in the same city where you live – by moving into a luxurious hotel and spending some quality family time together, relaxing in the pool, getting long awaited spa treatments and – of course – enjoying the variety of good food that is made available without you having to cook, ...

Pakistan, fearless with the bat and fearsome with the ball, gave India its most painful bleed in cricket at the Oval on Sunday with an attack so lethal that the defending champions limped back with the ignominy of a 180-run defeat. The stage could not have been bigger for Pakistan, a nation reeling under terrorism and bereft of any cricket at home for long years after the infamous attack on the touring Sri Lankan team. Comprehensively beating arch rivals India at an ICC Final and lifting the Champions Trophy for the first time will go a long way in rebuilding the confidence of this nation which implodes at the drop of a hat and yet can be passionate tamer of any situation emanating out of the blue. The big stage win was extra special because a group of mostly untested youngsters, sporting nothing but passion and self-belief, pitted their battle impossible against seasoned star campaigners from India and showed them up as a bunch of club cricketers. The victory will, indeed, m...

Sachin Tendulkar has inspired generations with his acumen, determination, and humility — traits that carve legends out of stars.  MEENAKSHI RAO  explores what shaped this man extraordinaire in the backdrop of the recent docu-film serenading the icon Memories diminish, stars fade into new dawns. The public and its adulation move on, as do time and moments that make a legend. It’s been three years and just over five months since Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar retired from all forms of cricket on that sobbing day of November 16, 2013, at Wankhede Stadium, which left the nation wondering what India is without Sachin in the middle and what Sachin is without cricket. That was the day this colossal called Sachin,  hamara  Sachin, played the last Test match of his career, scored 74 runs, kissed the ground he so often rocked with his bat and walked away into the sunset after a teary-eyed, simple and heart-warming first-ever public speech of his 24-year-long career in a...

Glacial recession may be a worldwide phenomenon but New Zealand’s ice retreats are the fastest and thus most alarming.  MEENAKSHI RAO  reports about the worrying ice dwindle from the Aoraki/Mt Cook region that houses the island nation’s largest glacier, which is thinning down fast enough to vanish by 2100 Deep turquoise, still and mirror clean, this 7-km-long wonder lake adjoining the grime covered face of the Tasman Glacier is breathtakingly beautiful, what with some blue, some white, some small, some big icebergs dotting its ethereal expanse. You feel blessed to be floating over its icy waters, surrounded by imposing peaks of the stunning Aoraki/Mt Cook region. But wait! This celestial Tasman Lake is not good news. In 1973, it was not even a puddle at the foot of the mighty Tasman Glacier. Today, in 2017, it is more than 7 km long, 2 km wide and carries the depth of the nearby river-fed, 18-km-long Pukaki Lake. The fast expanding lake is the direct result of New ...