Will Mithali Raj change her batting position to prepare for the 2022 Women's World Cup?

After months of postponing the Women's World Cup due to Covid, New Zealand is finally hosting the major tournament from March to April 2022. Will Mithali Raj bat at No. 3 is a major question right now.

Read also: Most runs in women's cricket: Mithali Raj on top

All the teams are preparing their best squad for the world cup. Australia will provide great opportunities for India in making pivotal selection calls across departments. The India team faced a few defeats in the last years. The coach Ramesh Powar and captain Mithali Raj are working hard for a victorious performance in the world cup.

On Saturday, a one-off warm-up match was conducted. The match was a kind of indication that Mithali might come to bat above the No. 4 position. She is playing in this position since the India tour of New Zealand 2019. In continuous 18 innings, she batted two-down or lower. Firstly, she scored 40s or more in 11 such matches. Secondly, this also included 7 half-centuries. Lastly, India won 9 and lost 9 of these matches.

There has been quite a little chatter all around about Mithali. She clearly surpassed those with her performances as she hit 4 consecutive half-centuries in her last 4 innings. Raj came to bat at one-down but got out for just 1 in the warm-up. In spite of this, the Indian team should consider her at the No. 3 position for a good outcome. After all, she is experienced, a fantastic cricketer and is definitely reliable. The queries and issues with the No. 3 position no longer be in question.

Shefali Verma's performances:

The No. 3 position saw quite a few changes during that period. Cricketers like Punam Raut, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, and Harmanpreet Kaur tried their hands in this position. But all of them could not succeed to make it their own position. The situation came to control temporarily after Shefali Verma's Test and ODI debut in June.

She showed destructive performance at the 2020 T20 World Cup with 163 runs. She was exceptional in the tri-series in Australia on the same tour as well. Shefali spent over a year without playing international cricket, and also faced non-selection for the ODI series against South Africa. But the tables turned after her ferocious cricket in the 2020 tour of Australia