On June 26, India’s Test and ODI captain Mithali Raj created history as she became only the second cricketer, after Sachin Tendulkar to complete 22 years of an international career.
The world’s leading run-getter in women’s ODI made her debut against Ireland on June 26, 1999 at Milton Keynes. Mithali scored unbeaten 114 runs on her debut match against Ireland Women’s team in 1999, which is the third-highest score made by a woman cricketer in her ODI debut after Lynne Thomas (134 in 1973) and Nicole Bolton (124 in 2014). Mithali was part of Indian women’s best partnership in ODIs and that too in her debut match by scoring unbeaten 114 runs along with her partner Reshma who made 104 not out. Their partnership of unbroken 258 runs is the third-best for any wicket and second-best for the first wicket. Since then she has achieved milestones aplenty in her illustrious career.
The stylish right-hand bat is the first woman cricketer to complete 7000 runs in One Day International cricket. In 214 ODIs, she has mustered 7098 runs at a stellar average of 51.06. She has scored 55 half-centuries and seven centuries, which is the most by an Indian female cricketer. She is also the youngest centurion (16 years 205 days) in ODI cricket. Combining Tests and T20Is, she has scored over 10,000 runs, which makes her only the second woman cricketer in the world to do so. With 314 matches played so far, she is the player with the most international appearances in women’s cricket.
‼️ Most 5️⃣0️⃣+ scores in Women’s ODIs:
🇮🇳 Mithali Raj- 62 times.
🏴 Charlotte Edwards- 55 times.
🇦🇺 Karen Rolton- 41 times.
🏴 Sarah Taylor- 41 times.#ENGvIND— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) June 26, 2021
Though Bharatnatyam was her first career choice in childhood, when she decided to take the bat in hand, she ensured that she made the bowlers dance to her tunes.
Apart from her marvelous batting, her leadership has been impeccable. At the age of 21 years and 4 days, she became the youngest captain for the Indian women’s cricket team and seventh overall. Mithali Raj’s Indian team also created a team record of winning 16 matches on the trot – a streak which began with India defeating Australia during the tour of Australia in February 2016 and ended during the Quadrangular ODI series in South Africa in May 2017. She is also the only cricketer who was a captain in two ICC ODI World Cup finals; 2005 and 2017. Under her leadership, the Women in Blue won their first Test series against England in 2006, and that too on foreign soil by a 1-0 margin. Between 2004 and 2008, Mithali Raj led the team in four Asia Cup tournaments and all four were won by the Indian women’s cricket team.
In her 22 Years in International Cricket, Mithali Raj has won 6️⃣ Asia Cup Titles for Team 🇮🇳
🏆 2004
🏆 2005
🏆 2006
🏆 2008
🏆 2012
🏆 2016 #22yearsofMithaliRaj #MithaliRaj pic.twitter.com/brAuDtBrLF— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) June 26, 2021
At 19, Mithali Raj broke Karen Rolton’s record of the world’s highest individual Test score of 209 and made a new score of 214. She is the only Indian woman cricketer to be not dismissed for a duck for 7 consecutive years (2000-07). She also holds the second-best record of most consecutive innings without a duck with 74 innings after Karen Rolton.
When Mithali Raj made her debut for 🇮🇳 on 26 June 1999,
Taniya Bhatia was 6️⃣ months old
Harleen Deol – 1️⃣ yr
Smriti Mandhana – 2️⃣ yr
Deepti Sharma – 2️⃣ yr
Priya Punia – 2️⃣ yr
Poonam Yadav – 7️⃣ yrShafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Radha Yadav & Pooja Vastrakar were not even born
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) June 26, 2021
Till now, Mithali has played in five World Cup tournaments, in which she has scored 1,139 runs at an average of 54.23, which is the third-best average in World Cups after Sarah Taylor and Karen Rolton (among the players who have played 10 or more matches in the tournament). She has also scored nine fifties in her five World Cup tournament appearances, which is the best by any Indian women cricketer and joint third-most after Debbie Hockley (12), Charlotte Edwards (11), Karen Rolton (9). In the 2013 Women’s World Cup, Mithali scored her best score of unbeaten 103 not out against the Pakistan Women’s team, which is the third-highest score by an Indian women cricketer in a World Cup match after Harmanpreet Kaur (171* and 107* not out).
List of Awards and Recognitions earned by Captain Cool Mithali Raj since she made her international debut in 1999 👇#22yearsofMithaliRaj • #MithaliRaj pic.twitter.com/T7MhA2bmkw
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) June 26, 2021
So far, she has played 89 T20Is for India in which she averages 37.52, which is the second-best by any woman cricketer in the world after Scotland’s Sarah Bryce, who averages 39.30. She has scored 17 fifties, which is the most by any Indian women’s cricketer in the T20I format. Mithali Raj became the first Indian cricketer to score 2,000 runs in T20 International Cricket (June 7, 2018).
In April 2015, she became the first female cricketer to win the Wisden India Cricketer of the Year. Though the Arjuna award recipient and Padma Shri winner has achieved some incredible things in her beautiful career, an ICC trophy still eludes her. Let’s hope that 2022 is the year when India under Mithali Raj bags the coveted World Cup title.
I am a former cricketer having represented Mumbai University at All India University level. I was a part of MCA probables for the U-19 and U-23 age group. I have been an avid cricket writer for the last five years. Currently I am pursuing my Ph.D from IIT Bombay.
