'Golden Girl' of Indian Cricket - Mithali Raj

The golden girl of Indian cricket is a persona of grit, perseverance and determination. Mithali Dorai Raj has an aura about her and the emerging female cricketers see an idol in her.

Raj reached 6028 runs by scoring 69 in India’s World Cup group game defeat to Australia at Bristol. The 34 year old passed former England captain Charlotte Edwards’ tally of 5992 in 16 less innings. She therefore became the leading ODI run scorer in women’s cricket.   

Mithali Raj is the only batswoman to cross the 6000 run mark in ODI’s. In the process she also brought up her 49^th ODI fifty, a record Raj already has to her credit. In the year 1999 at the tender age of 16 years and 205 days when she made her debut for India, Raj stroked a masterful 114 runs and thus created a world record in her debut innings at the Milton Keynes ground in England. From that moment on she seemed destined to greatness.

When she scored 71 in the opening game of the World Cup this year, Raj became the first woman to score seven consecutive fifties. She already has more unbeaten knocks in ODI cricket than any other player. Mithali Raj led India to its first World Cup final in 2005 in South Africa where they lost to Australia.

Raj is the only player to captain India in more ODI’s and T20I’s. She held the record for the highest individual score by an Indian Woman Cricketer in a World Cup match (91 not out off 104 balls) against New Zealand in ICC Women’s World Cup 2005. Harmanpreet Kaur overtook Mithali Raj by scoring a century (107 off 109 balls) in the second match of ICC Women’s World Cup 2013 against England.

Mithali Raj is currently the all time leading run scorer for India in all formats. She is also the 1^st Indian and the 5^th woman cricketer in the world to score over 1000 World Cup runs.

Raj who has an illustrious career has till date played 184 ODI matches for India which includes 6 centuries and 49 fifties, with 6137 runs in her kitty scored at an average of 52. Some of her other unique ODI records include the following: 

• Played 74 consecutive innings between 2000 and 2007 without scoring a duck -- the longest streak for any player at that time (since broken by Australia's Karen Rolton).
• Played 109 consecutive matches between 2004 and 2013 -- the longest streak for any player in women's ODIs.
• Has a career span of over 18 years -- the longest for an Indian player in this format.
• Has batted at every position from number 1 to 9 in women's ODIs.
• Led India for the first time in 2004 versus the West Indies at the age of 21 years, 94 days to become the youngest captain for India in this format.
• Led India in 106 ODIs winning 65 and losing 38 with three no result games (a win percentage of 61.32).
• She has won 18 Woman of the Match awards -- the second most in women's ODIs after the West Indies' Stafanie Taylor (20). Among the Indians no one else has won more than six!

Mithali Raj has been the pioneer of women’s cricket for close to two decades. It is a testament to a girl who gave up on her passion for Bharatnatyam at the age of 10. Twenty five years earlier it would have been a difficult choice because women’s cricket was not that well developed in India. Mithali Raj has broken all odds and come a long way since then, she is an epitome of hard work and sacrifices.