Mithali Raj became the second woman cricketer ever to have secured 100 international wins for her country as a captain. In the 3rd ODI against South Africa at Vadodara, India Women won in what was a low scoring thriller, giving Mithali the 100th India win as a captain. India whitewashed the ODI series 3-0 over South Africa.
Mithali, who recently completed 20 years of her international career, joined the list of elite players like Sachin Tendulkar, Sanath Jayasuriya and Javed Miandad who are some of the players having the longest international careers. Under Mithali Raj’s captaincy, India has won 3 Tests, 80 ODIs and 17 T20Is. She achieved the feat of 100 international wins as a captain in the last match of the concluded ODI series against South Africa. Mithali thus becomes the second most successful captain in women’s cricket, just behind Charlotte Edwards of England who has 142 victories under her belt.
What a day to celebrate 20 years in international cricket 🙌🙌
Congratulations to Captain @M_Raj03 on yet another milestone 👏👏 Keep going strong!! #INDvSA #INDvsSA #INDWvSAW #IndWvsSAW
📸 @BCCI pic.twitter.com/8Gnj6ivjlR
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) October 14, 2019
If we look at the list of the longest playing cricketers across men’s and women’s cricket, we find that Mithali stands 4th. She is ahead of high profile players such as Chris Gayle and Shoaib Malik but if we look at the number of matches played, Mithali has played significantly fewer matches as compared to them. The likes of Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar have played more than the double the number of matches than Mithali within a time span which is just a few years more than that of Mithali’s career. It clearly shows the disparity in fixtures scheduled for men and women. More fixtures – bilateral series and triangular tournaments should be held for women’s teams so that they get more exposure to high-level cricket. Playing more games will also increase the standard of cricket among women teams across the world.
Abhi toh party shuru hui hain! 😃
Wishing a very happy birthday to @raut_punam and Mansi Joshi! And many congratulations to the entire team on their 3-0 ODI series win. #INDvSA #INDWvSAW pic.twitter.com/wLTJe43KJc— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) October 14, 2019
Mithali has now 80 ODI wins and she needs another 4 one day victories to surpass the record of former England captain Charlotte Edwards who has 83 ODI wins to her name. In the second ODI of the South Africa series, Mithali completed 3000 runs in ODI chases out of which 2000 came in successful chases. She became the first woman to hold this feat. She is the highest runscorer in women’s cricket and became the first player to cross 6000 runs in Women’s ODIs. Mithali already holds the record for playing the most number of ODIs in women’s cricket and scoring the most number of fifties.
Mithali Raj has played a total of 167 matches as a captain, out of which she has led her team to victory on 100 occasions while losing in 62 games. Mithali also holds a unique feat. She is the first Indian captain to lead the country in 2 World Cup finals.
(Stats reported on 14/10/2019)
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