Indian women's cricket team opener Punam Raut is all set to figure in her third ODI World Cup to be held in England later this month
Punam Raut with her coach Sanjay Gaitonde
Indian women's cricket team opener Punam Raut is all set to figure in her third ODI World Cup to be held in England later this month.
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Not very long ago, she was out of the team, but her comeback has been nothing short of inspirational. On the eve of the team's departure for the mega event, Raut revealed to mid-day on Saturday about the goals she has set for herself in the tournament starting June 24 and how she overcame the tough times while not in
the side.
"In addition to two T20 World Cups, this will be my fifth World Cup overall. It is a big challenge but I am ready for it," said Raut, who is looking to make maximum use of the power play to give the team a decent start.
"I have realised that I used to take unnecessary pressure on previous occasions. This affected my performance, but this time, I am going to approach it as just another series," said the 27-year-old, who stitched a record 320-run opening partnership with Deepti Sharma against Ireland at Potchefstroom (South Africa) last month.
Raut, who plays for Indian Railways, lost her place in the Indian team that toured West Indies and the World Cup qualifiers in Sri Lanka before her South African safari. Her senior teammate Jhulan Goswami, coach Sanjay Gaitonde and former India stumper Chandrakant Pandit helped her iron out her flaws and this led to her comeback.
"Last year, I failed against Sri Lanka and Australia. I then spoke to Jhulan who gave me a routine and advised me to follow it religiously. While speaking to her I realised that I was not doing my morning rituals like pranayama and meditation well. I had to leave my Mira Road home early in the morning to reach my Churchgate office in time. After practising in the afternoon, I used to reach home by around 11 pm. I was very disturbed, but started following Jhulan's routine and got my motivation back," said Raut, who termed this as the most difficult phase of her nine-year international career.
Gaitonde's role cannot be underplayed. "I missed being with my Indian teammates and that was very frustrating. But Gaitonde Sir made me mentally strong and helped me concentrate on cricket and build a positive attitude to work hard," she said.
Gaitonde and Pandit worked towards changing her grip and back lift which made a huge difference to her batting. "My grip was predominantly bottom handed. They told me to use my top hand more on my shots. I faced around 300 throw downs daily and ultimately it helped me play those long shots and I could clear the ropes easily," added Raut who has played 44 ODIs and 35 T20Is.
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