Punam Raut talks about why she walked, says it’s ‘sport not war’

Having walked, Punam Raut will fortunately speak about it now. The Sophie Molineux floater within the current pink-ball Test towards Australia, bounced greater than she anticipated and took a whiff of wooden across the base of the bat deal with earlier than being caught by the keeper.
The commentator was incredulous when Punam began strolling again, easing her hand out of the glove, and mentioned in 4 completely different shocked tones he might summon that she’s “oh, she’s walked….has she walked? ..whoa, she’s walked….”

Unbelievable scenes 😨
Punam Raut is given not out, however the Indian No.3 walks! #AUSvIND | @CommBank pic.twitter.com/xfAMsfC9s1
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) October 1, 2021
Raut is equally staggered pondering again. “I was so sure the umpire would give Out. Because it was Out!” she begins. “There was definitely a noise, though it was a faint top edge. I was so sure he’d give out that I didn’t even look back the first few steps. It’s happened a few times in domestic cricket that I was given Out when I wasn’t. But this has never happened in my life. I don’t know how the umpire didn’t give it Out,” she breaks right into a still-astounded snort.
The Test match was performed with out the Decision Review System (DRS) and the Australian gamers’ attraction to the on-field umpire appeared to have gone in useless until Raut walked.

“I don’t know how many people would actually walk out if there’s no DRS” #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/HScKAdYOkO
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) October 1, 2021
“I mean, why would anyone walk if they didn’t nick?” she continues, attempting to pierce by the kerfuffle brought on and debates of ‘spirit of cricket’ dredged up within the aftermath.
“Spirit of cricket has to be there, right? We hardly get a chance to play (Tests), so I think we tend to forget why we enjoy playing this sport, why we compete. You don’t want to cheat just to seal your spot,” she says. “See, I might forget the spirit here, but I truly believe, the same situation returns in life when maybe I’ll be given Out when I’m not. I’d like to be clear about ‘fair and unfair’ and do things correctly. Plus, it’s just a sport, not war.”
She has sympathy for the umpires too, although she’s nonetheless shocked she didn’t see a raised finger, amid the appeals of the three close-in fielders and bowler. “It’s tough for umpires, they can’t see everything and sometimes batters don’t walk despite knowing. Hence DRS was brought in for the Not-Outs. But in my head, what’s Out is Out,” she declares.
Raut in fact understands skinny margins and cut-throat competitors and never giving an inch. And what she owes to the group. “Of course I understood the disappointment of team-mates. Noone likes losing wickets. That’s why I didn’t express anything to them when some asked if I was sure it was Out, even when I was sure I was,” she says delicately.
It was left-armer’s ball, she asserts, drifted in, straightened and shot up greater than she reckoned, and the bat face opened greater than she’d need.
It wasn’t unprecedented. “I’ve seen Sachin (Tendulkar) walk. Once, Dhoni didn’t even look at the umpire and started walking back,” she remembers. “A wrong decision in a World Cup semi or final can cost a team dear so I know it’s a big moment. But what’s Out was Out,” she asserts concerning the overspun straighter one.

The Strike-Rate
It is in white-ball cricket, notably the upcoming ODI World Cup the place Raut is now focussed. There are mutterings about her strike-rate in restricted overs cricket.
Raut, although, desires to remain “practical” and maintains the largest forex in sport stays ‘winning a match.’
“I know people love to watch only boundaries and sixes in ODIs and T20 and not a cheeky single or double or rotation of strike. But I’m sure they like to watch batters win matches as much as aggressive players. And if playing with caution or according to the situation is going to help the team win, and there are 50 overs available, we should consume all 50 overs,” she says.
She remembers an India-Pak group sport within the 2017 World Cup, the place India hurtled to 160-odd. “It was a pressure game against Pakistan because criticism if we lose can be next level. Batting first we made the mistake of trying to play aggressively on a pitch not assisting that kind of play. That was a lesson for me,” she says. She top-scored with 48 however it rankled.
The strike-rate dissing doesn’t faze her as a lot now, being a ‘veteran of comebacks’ at 32. After being out within the chilly for a 12 months, Raut had made a comeback forward of the final World Cup, and continues drawing inspiration from her father who she says by no means had it simple in his life in Mumbai.
“Whenever I was attempting comebacks, he told me straight that he wanted to see the same drive and determination of the ‘u19 Punam’. He was talking about being a fighter. He would know the effort I was putting in because I would train and drop off to sleep from exhaustion. He says, whenever you give excuses for failure, that’s bad form. If you don’t make excuses, then I know you are on track putting effort,” she says.
Balanced life
Turning 32 on Thursday, Raut says she has yet one more 12 months of top of the range worldwide cricket to stay up for. Yet, a sure stability has come into her life publish marriage and ending a decade and half in top-flight sport. The frequent quarantine life has tunnelled her focus into newer frontiers: studying about inventory markets.
“Everyone needs to take responsibility for their own finances and not depend on anyone. And I learnt a lot about different types of investments in the last year. I actually like quarantine days while others get bored. Because I learn a lot of things from youtube videos – from cooking to investing.”

She’s all the time been a reader, greater than a music listener, and was presently glancing by ‘Think Like a Monk’ by Jai Shetty. “But most of all, I keep going back to videos of Viv Richards. I really like his strokes and I consciously try to play some – the one off the backfoot over the covers. His videos are exhilarating and I’m never bored,” she says.