Happy Birthday Mithali Raj! The only female cricketer with 20-year legacy

The Indian women’s ODI team skipper Mithali Raj has scripted and rewritten various records over her international career thus far.

Queen 👑 of cricket

Mithali Raj becomes the first woman and 4⃣th cricketer ever (after Tendulkar, Jayasuriya & Miandad), to play ODIs over a 20-year span 😮.

Congratulations, @M_Raj03 #INDvSA #INDWvSAW pic.twitter.com/wD1tB2dZfY

— The Bridge (@TheBridge_IN) October 9, 2019

Having made her debut back in 1999 against Ireland at Milton Keynes, Raj’s consistency has played a huge hand in the growth of the sport in India. Amassing 6720 runs in 183 innings thus far to be the leading run-getter in the format, Raj also became the first woman cricketer to turn out in 200 ODI games, a further proof of her longevity.

Some of the feats Mithali has achieved along the way

1. Mithali has also turned out in 10 Test matches, where she has scored 663 runs at an average of 51 with a high score of 214. She made her Test debut in 2002 against England.

2. She had played 89 T20Is before announcing her retirement this year. With 2364 T20I runs, she is the leading run-scorer for India in the format with Harmanpreet behind her at 2004 runs. Mithali also had the highest score for the country in T20Is, an unbeaten 97, till Harman broke the record and got India’s maiden ton in the shortest format.

3. Mithali shares the feat of playing for 20 years with Sachin Tendulkar, Javed Miandad and Sanath Jayasuriya. The next woman player with the longest playing career in international cricket is Ireland’s Clare Shillington, who made her debut on August 8 1997 and played for a span of 19 years and 195 days.

4. Mithali scored her first hundred at 16 years and 205 days, and is still the youngest to get to the feat in women’s ODIs.

5. She turned out to play 109 consecutive games between 2004 and 2013 for her country – the longest streak for any player in the format.

6. Became India’s youngest captain when she was asked to take on the responsibility in 2004 against West Indies.

7. Has also grabbed 18 Player of the Match awards – the second highest in women’s ODIs after Stafanie Taylor from Windies, who has 20. Among the Indians, no player has more than six POTM award.

Also read: Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami nominated for the ICC decade awards