Indian women cricket team captain Mithali Raj is a legend in her own right. In addition to being the only woman player to complete 20 years of international cricket, Raj became only the second captain with 100 wins in the ODI format, when she recently led India to a 3-0 whitewash of South Africa.
But, there is much more to Raj than her exploits on the field. On Tuesday, a Twitter user accused Raj of not knowing Tamil. Raj was born in a Tamilian family in Jodhpur. The Twitter user, Sugu, wrote, “She doesn't know Tamil. She will speak in English, Telugu, Hindi”. The post was apparently in reference to Raj's response to a congratulatory message from Sachin Tendulkar in English.
The troll also made further claims of Raj not speaking in Tamil. He wrote, “She didn't gave any interview in Tamil. Not even single word speak in Tamil during many events. Just like actress knows few Tamil.”
However, Raj responded with class, tweeting a message that had both Tamil and English. Raj wrote in Tamil, “Tamil is my mother tongue. I speak Tamil well. I am proud to live in Tamil...” and added in English, “but above it all I am very proud Indian! Also my dear sugu, you constant criticism on each and every post of mine, you day to day advice on how and what should I do is exactly what keeps me going”.
In addition, Raj tweeted to the troll the video of You need to calm down, a song by US pop star Taylor Swift. Raj described Swift as a “strong independent woman I admire a lot”.