” Cricket is a gentleman’s game” ! A famous saying of the British era. On that day in 2001, the first woman to score a century in the very first match of her career against Ireland, raised her bat in the air and saluted the ground with her head.
Sports life:
Mithali Raj participated in a One Day International for the first time in 1999. This match took place in Milton Keynes, Ireland in which Mithali scored unbeaten 114 runs. He played his first test match against England in Lucknow in 2001-2002. When Mithali participated in an international test match for the first time, she was out on a duck (zero) without scoring any runs. But she progressed in her career on the basis of her hard work and set a record by scoring 214 runs, the highest score till date in international women’s cricket. He made this record in 2002 while playing against England. This is the highest run record in women’s cricket.
After a gap of 4 years, in July 2006, the women’s cricket team again toured England under the leadership of Mithali Raj. All the players had gone to play One Day International after a lot of training. This B.C.C.I. (Cricket Board) and the Women’s Cricket Association of India. Under the leadership of Mithali, the Indian team defeated England by five wickets in the second Test in Taunton and won the two-match series 1-0. Thus, under the leadership of Mithali, the women’s cricket team defeated England on its own ground, due to which Mithali got a lot of praise, as well as credit for the victory.
Broke the record of Australia’s Karen Bolton who had set the record by scoring 209 runs. Mithali captained the Indian women’s team in the ‘Women’s World Cup 2005’. He achieved first place in the ICC World Rankings in 2010, 2011[13] and 2012.[14]
Till now he has played 12 Tests, 230 ODIs and 89 T20 matches. During this period, Mithali has scored 699 runs in Test, 7737 runs in ODI and 2364 runs in T20. In her career, Mithali has scored one century in Test and 7 centuries in ODI. He did not achieve this feat in T20. He has also scored 12 fifties in Test, 63 in ODI and 19 in T20 [15]
On June 8, 2022, India’s veteran female player and ODI captain Mithali Raj has announced her retirement from international cricket. Releasing a message on social media, he gave this information while thanking BCCI and all the well-wishers.
Honor Award:
22-year-old Mithali Raj was honored with the ‘Arjuna Award’ on 21 September 2004 for her cricketing achievements in 2003.