Mithali Raj: Once a precocious teenager, now a legend of the game

The Indian cricket team has had its fair share of legendary captains and Mithali Raj certainly occupies the highest position in the women's cricketing fraternity.

Debuting at the age of 16, and becoming India's captain aged 22, Mithali's career spanned over two decades.

And by the time she hung up her boots in 2022, she had transcended gender barriers and was one of the best Indian batters of all time.

On her 42nd birthday, we take a trip down memory lane to relive some of her best moments across a stellar 23-year career.

A stunning debut

As a 16-year-old, Mithali stepped onto the field as an Indian player for the very first time, making her ODI debut against Ireland and she did not waste any time in showing her abilities to the world.

Along with her opening batting partner Reshma Gandhi, the duo put up a 258-run stand for the opening wicket, with Mithali scoring a sparkling 114 runs.

That is how Mithali announced herself to the world, and she wasn't going to stop just there.

Test cricket beckoned and Mithali exceled in the longest format of the game as well, breaking the highest individual test score in women's cricket back then with a knock of 214 runs against England in the second test at Taunton, UK in 2002.

What was jaw dropping was that she was just 19 years of age at the time.

Third youngest test-captain of all time

For her continued excellence and display of leadership on the field, Mithali Raj, at just 22 years and 353 days old, was made India's test team captain in 2005, and her test captaincy debut came against English women in Delhi.

She marked the occasion with a brilliant knock of 78 in the first innings and thus began captain Mithali Raj's new chapter in Indian women's cricket.

'Lady Tendulkar'

In more ways than one, there were similarities between Mithali's career and that Sachin Tendulkar's.

Both made their debut for the national team at the age of 16, and both have carried the beacon of Indian cricket forward and have been extraordinary human beings on and off the field.

Mithali is still India's leading run-scorer across the three formats, with her ODI record standing tall.

In 232 matches, Mithali amassed 7,805 runs at an average of 50.68, with 64 half-centuries and seven centuries.

She also holds the record for being the first cricketer ever, men and women included, to score seven half-centuries on the trot, which she did so during the 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup.

With over 2,000 runs in T20 internationals, Mithali's impact on the shortest format is immense as well, being the first woman to score 2000 runs in the format in international cricket.

The World Cup, so near yet so far

Like every Indian who has played cricket for the country and who aspires to play for the country, Mithali wanted to win the World Cup for India more than anything else.

She came very close in 2005, when she led India to the final of the 2005 Women's Cricket World Cup in South Africa, but succumbed to Australia in the final.

Twelve years later, in 2017, Mithali was at the forefront yet again, as she, along with an inspired group of youngsters like Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana took India to the final, this time in England.

Playing the hosts at the iconic Lord's Cricket Ground, India came agonizingly close. But a mere nine runs kept Mithali from the elusive trophy.

She became the first and the only female Indian cricketer to have captained two Cricket World Cup finals.

She is also just the third cricketer ever to appear in six different World Cups.

Advocacy, both on an off the pitch

Mithali was not just instrumental in taking Indian women's cricket forward on the field, but also off the field with her sustained advocacy for the sustained development of women's cricket.

She was vocal in urging the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to introduce centralized contracts for the women's cricket team, which became a reality in 2015, 11 years after the men's team got theirs.

She also insisted on organizing more test matches for the Indian women's cricket team, and in 2016, called for Indian women cricketers to feature in the Women's Big Bash, an annual franchise-based cricket league in Australia.

Today, women's cricket has garnered more popularity with the advent of the Women's Premier League (WPL), and more bilateral tours for the Indian women's team, and that progress is largely in part to the positive strides taken by the team, led from the front by their captain, Mithali Raj.

She has been the torchbearer of Indian women's cricket and an inspiration to thousands of budding women cricketers across the nation.