Former India women cricketers Mithali Raj and Ravi Kalpana will be honored for their remarkable careers in cricket. The Andhra Cricket Association (ACA) has announced that they will unveil two stands to commemorate the two players at the Visakhapatnam stadium on October 12, 2025.
The unveiling will be held ahead of the India vs Australia match at the ongoing 2025 Women’s World Cup, scheduled for the same day and venue. The venue will host a total of five games of the tournament, including the one against Australia.
The decision came into effect after India women’s star batter Smriti Mandhana highlighted the contributions of women cricketers and a way to inspire the young generation. During the ‘Breaking Boundaries’ show back in August, Mandhana, in the presence of Andhra Pradesh Minister Nara Lokesh, she discussed and brought to notice that the women cricketers were under-represented, with not much of the cricket stands named after them, including venues like the Visakhapatnam stadium.
The appeal, however, led the minister to take immediate action, resulting in the honorable mention of both Mithali and Kalpana at the ACA-Visakhapatnam District Cricket Association (ACA-VDCA) Stadium.
Inspired by Mandhana’s request, Minister Lokesh said, “Smriti Mandhana’s thoughtful suggestion captured a wider public sentiment. Translating that idea into immediate action reflects our collective commitment to gender parity and to acknowledging the trailblazers of women’s cricket.”
Mithali Raj, one of the greatest top-order batters, finished her career with a blazing performance in all three formats, scoring over 10,000 International runs, currently leading the run-scoring charts in the women’s game.
She was one of the most prolific run-getters for India in international cricket. She is also the only Indian captain to lead her team into two ODI World Cup finals games. In Tests she scored 699 runs in 12 matches for an average of 43.68. In 232 WODIs, she scored 7805 runs at an average of 50.68 runs. Meanwhile, in WT20s, she scored 2364 runs in 89 matches at an average of 37.52.
The Andhra-born wicketkeeper-batter, Ravi Kalpana has been influential in domestic circuits. For India women, Kalpana played in only seven WODIs, in which she has scored 4 runs at an average of 2.00. She made her debut in the first ODI match of the ICC Women’s Championship against New Zealand Women held at Bengaluru on June 28, 2015. In that match she scored just 3 runs off 20 balls, which India Women won by 17 runs.
For India women, Kalpana played in only seven WODIs, in which she has scored 4 runs at an average of 2.00. She made her debut in the first ODI match of the ICC Women’s Championship against New Zealand Women held at Bengaluru on June 28, 2015. In that match she scored just 3 runs off 20 balls, which India Women won by 17 runs.
She last appeared during the third ODI match of the ICC Women’s Championship against Sri Lanka Women held in Ranchi on February 19, 2016. She, however, did not get the chance to bat, as India won the match by seven wickets with 123 balls remaining.
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