NAKARAJAN: MITHALIRAJ , INDIAN WOMAN CRICKET CAPTAIN BORN 1982 DECEMBER 3

MITHALIRAJ ,

INDIAN WOMAN CRICKET CAPTAIN

BORN 1982 DECEMBER 3

Mithali Dorai Raj ( born 3 December 1982) is an Indian cricketer and the captain of the Indian Women's cricket team in Tests and ODI.[2] Often regarded as one of the greatest cricketing batters to have ever played the game, she is the highest run-scorer in women's international cricket and the only female cricketer to surpass the 6,000 run mark in ODIs.[3][4] She is the first player to score 7 consecutive 50s in ODIs.[5] Raj is the first captain (men or women) to lead India to an ICC ODI World Cup final twice – 2005 and 2017.[6][7]

Mithali Raj

Mithali Raj batting in 2012

Personal information

Full name

Mithali Dorai Raj

Born

3 December 1982 (age 35)^[1]
Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India

Batting

Right-hand bat

Bowling

Right-arm leg break

International information

National side

India

Test debut (cap 55)

14 January 2002 v England

Last Test

16 November 2014 v South Africa

ODI debut (cap 56)

26 June 1999 v Ireland

Last ODI

23 July 2017 v England

ODI shirt no.

T20I debut (cap 9)

5 August 2006 v England

Last T20I

4 December 2016 v Pakistan

Domestic team information

Years

Team

2006–present

Railways

Career statistics

Competition	WTests	WODI	T20I
Matches	10	186	63
Runs scored	663	6,190	1,708
Batting average	51.00	51.58	37.95
100s/50s	1/4	6/49	0/10
Top score	214	114*	73*
Balls bowled	72	171	6
Wickets	0	8	–
Bowling average	–	11.37	–
5 wickets in innings	–		–
10 wickets in match	–	n/a	n/a
Best bowling	–	3/4	–
Catches/stumpings	11/–	45/–	16/–

Early life and background[edit source]

Mithali Raj was born on 3 December, 1982 in Jodhpur. Mithali's mother tongue is Tamil. Her father is Dorai Raj, who was an Airman in the Indian Air Force, and mother is Leela Raj. Mithali started to play the game at the age of 10 and at the age of 17, she was picked for the Indian team. She lives in Hyderabad, Telangana.[8][9] She attended Keyes High School for Girls in Secunderabad. After this she attended Kasturba Gandhi Junior College for Women in West Marredpally (Secunderabad) for her intermediate studies. She started cricket coaching in her school days along with her elder brother. Mithali practised at school, often playing with male cricketers in the nets.
Career[edit source]

Raj has played both Test and One Day International cricket for India's women's cricket team.[10] She was named among the probables in the 1997 Women's Cricket World Cup when she was just 14, but couldn't make it to the final squad.[11] She made her One Day International debut in 1999 against Ireland at Milton Keynes and scored unbeaten 114 runs. She made her Test debut in the 2001–02 season against South Africa at Lucknow. On 17 August 2002, at the age of 19, in her third Test, she broke Karen Rolton's record of world’s highest individual Test score of 209*, scoring a new high of 214[12] against England in the second and final Test at County Ground, Taunton. The record has since been surpassed by Kiran Baluch of Pakistan who scored 242 against West Indies in March 2004.[13]

Mithali was taken ill with a strain of typhoid during the CricInfo Women's World Cup in 2002, seriously hampering India's progress. However, she then led them to their first World Cup final in 2005, in South Africa, where they met Australia who proved just too strong. In August 2006, she led the side to their first ever Test and Series victory in England and wrapped up the year winning the Asia Cup – the second time in 12 months – without dropping a single game.
She led the Indian team to the finals in the 2005 Women's Cricket World Cup where the team lost to Australia.[14] She is a part-time leg-break bowler as well. She is a recipient of the Arjuna award for the year 2003. She currently tops the batting table with 703 ratings. Her composure when at the crease and ability to score briskly make her a dangerous cricketer. In addition to her ability with the bat, Mithali rolls her arm over bowling leg-spinners and providing variety to the attack.

At the 2013 Women's World Cup, Mithali Raj was the No.1 Cricketer in the ODI chart among women. She scored 100s: 1 and 50s: 4 in Test cricket, 100s: 5 and 50s: 40 with best bowling of 3/4 in ODI's and 50s: 10 in T20's.
in February 2017, she became the second player to make 5,500 runs in WODIs.[5] Raj most matches captained player for India in ODI and T20I.[15][16]
In July 2017, she became the first player to make 6,000 runs in WODIs. She led the Indian team to the final of the 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup where the team lost to England by nine runs.[17][18][19]
Domestic career[edit source]
Playing for Railways in the domestic competition, Mithali began by playing with stars like Purnima Rau, Anjum Chopra and Anju Jain for Air India.[20]
Cricket performance[edit source]

Mithali Raj held the record for the highest individual score by an Indian Woman Cricketer in a World Cup match (91 not out off 104 deliveries which included 9 fours) against New Zealand in Women's World Cup 2005.[21] Harmanpreet Kaur overtook Mithali Raj by scoring a century (107 from 109 balls) in second match of ICC Women's World Cup 2013 against England.
Mithali is nicknamed "Tendulkar of Indian women's cricket", as she is currently the all-time leading run-scorer for India in all formats, including Tests, ODIs and T20Is.
During the 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup, Raj scored her seventh consecutive half-century and made a record for most consecutive fifties by a player.[22][23]

Mithali Raj also is the 1st Indian & 5th woman cricketer overall to score over 1,000 World Cup runs.[24]
She also holds the record for playing the most consecutive Women's One Day Internationals for a team (109).[25]
Popular culture[edit source]
After Women's Cricket World Cup in 2017, Viacom 18 Motion Pictures acquired the rights to make a feature film on her life. She said "Hoping that this movie inspires more people, especially young girls to take up sports as a career."[26]

Awards and honors[edit source]

Year	Award	Notes
2003	Arjuna Award^[27]
2015	Padma Shri	India's fourth highest civilian award^[28]
2017	Youth Sports Icon of Excellence Award	At the Radiant Wellness Conclave, Chennai^[29]
2017	Vogue Sportsperson of the Year	At the Vogue’s 10th Anniversary^[30]
2017	BBC 100 Women list 2017^[31]

Women's International Centuries[edit source]

Women's ODI Centuries[edit source]

Mithali Raj's One Day International centuries
#	Runs	Match	Sixes	Fours	Opponents	City/Country	Venue	Year
1	114*	1			Ireland	Milton Keynes, England	Campbell Park	1999^[32]
2	108*	66	0	7	Sri Lanka	Karachi, Pakistan	National Stadium	2006^[33]
3	109*	114	0	12	West Indies	Rajkot, India	Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground	2011^[34]
4	103*	145	1	13	Pakistan	Cuttack, India	Barabati Stadium	2013^[35]
5	104*	148	2	8	Sri Lanka	Visakhapatnam, India	Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium	2014^[36]
6	109	184	0	11	New Zealand	Derby, England	County Ground	2017^[37]