Mithali Raj joins ICC World Cup 2025 commentary panel

New Delhi, September 30: There was a little ripple of anticipation in Guwahati as Mithali Raj walked across the boundary rope on Sunday morning. Not in India blues, not carrying her bat, but holding a microphone. Fans leaned forward. The cameras caught her first words. “Batting paradise,” she said with that measured calm we’ve heard for years, before adding, “but seamers might get a sniff early.”

It was a pitch report, yes, but it felt like something else. The start of her second innings, this time from the commentary box.

The Booth Belongs To Her Now

The ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 has rolled out a starry commentary team. Plenty of big names, plenty of familiar accents. Yet, Raj’s inclusion stands out. For decades, she was the centre of India’s women’s cricketing story. Now, with the bat put away, she’s taking up space in another arena where women have too often been background noise.

Her voice carries a different weight. It’s not nostalgia alone. It’s authority. The kind that comes from thousands of runs scored, and a career built when no cameras or sponsors were lining up for women’s cricket.

What She Saw In Guwahati

Her debut shift came during the opener between India and Sri Lanka. The surface looked flat, perfect for stroke play. Many would have stopped there. Raj noticed the faintest of green, the sort of detail only someone who’s lived a career making early judgments could spot. Morning moisture, a hint of help for bowlers—things that don’t always show up on screen.

She wasn’t speaking like a television expert trying to dress up analysis. She sounded like a captain still reading conditions, still weighing the first session in her head. For viewers, it was a reminder of how sharp her cricket brain remains.

When AI Entered The Conversation

There was also a slightly odd interlude. As part of the broadcast experiment, Raj turned to Google Gemini to ask how the pitch might behave. Up came the charts and numbers—probabilities, predictions, neat little graphics.

It was jarring for a second. Mithali Raj, with her famously classical approach, consulting an algorithm? The AI hedged, as algorithms do, and its reading was bland. Raj smiled and moved on, but the contrast was almost comic. One answer was based on a career’s worth of instincts; the other, on machine-stitched data.

Still, it said something about where cricket is heading. Data and intuition, side by side. And Raj, of all people, straddling both worlds.

Why People Still Listen

For Indian fans, it’s impossible to hear her without remembering the grind she carried on her shoulders. A debut at 16, hundreds scored before the world was even watching, those long World Cup campaigns where she often looked like the lone warrior.

When she stepped away in 2022, it felt final. Yet, she hasn’t drifted. She’s kept herself close to the sport, in mentoring roles and occasional appearances. This new role gives her something more permanent. A stage where her words don’t just analyse matches, they help shape how women’s cricket is seen.

In a space that has been slow to open up to women, Raj’s voice signals that those days of silence are over.

A World Cup On The Cusp

This edition of the Women’s World Cup looks nothing like the ones Raj once played in. Full stadiums, prime-time slots, sponsors jostling for visibility. The sport is finally entering the mainstream.

Against that backdrop, her presence on air feels symbolic. She represents the journey, the grind, the fact that women’s cricket didn’t arrive here overnight. And now, she has the job of making sure it’s understood on its own terms, not as an offshoot of the men’s game.

It’s fitting, in a way, that her debut coincided with an AI gimmick. Technology may be the headline-grabber, but Raj is the reminder of what built this moment in the first place.

What Might Be Next

Nobody quite knows what path she’ll take after this World Cup. Maybe she will settle into being the most authoritative Indian voice in commentary. Maybe the board will rope her into administration. She might mentor, consult, or simply become the steady on-air presence cricket didn’t realise it needed until now.

For now, though, Mithali Raj looks comfortable. She’s back at the centre of the sport, still reading pitches, still steady in her assessments. Only this time, the bat is gone and the mic has taken its place.

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Prakash Nair

Senior Sports Journalist – Prakash@hindustanherald.in – Web

Sports reporter covering cricket, football, and Olympic disciplines, with on-ground event experience.

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