Mithali Raj

Mithali Dorai Raj (born 3 December 1982) is an Indian cricketer and the captain of the Indian women's national cricket team.[1][2] A right-handed opening batter, she is often regarded as India's greatest female batter.

Mithali Raj
Raj batting against England in 2012
Personal information
Born (1982-12-03) 3 December 1982
Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India
Height5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)
BattingRight-handed
RoleBatter
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 56)14 January 2002 v England
Last Test16 November 2014 v South Africa
ODI debut (cap 56)26 June 1999 v Ireland
Last ODI6 November 2019 v West Indies
T20I debut (cap 9)5 August 2006 v England
Last T20I9 March 2019 v England
Career statistics
Competition WTests WODI WT20I
Matches 10 209 89
Runs scored 663 6888 2,364
Batting average 51.00 50.64 37.52
100s/50s 1/4 7/53 0/17
Top score 214 125* 97*
Balls bowled 72 171 6
Wickets 0 8 0
Bowling average - 11.37 -
5 wickets in innings 0 0 -
10 wickets in match 0 0 -
Best bowling - 3/4 -
Catches/stumpings 11/– 53/- 19/–
Source: CricInfo, 21 April 2020

She is the highest run-scorer in women's international cricket and the only female cricketer to surpass the 6,000 run mark in Women's One Day International matches.[3][4] she is the first player to score seven consecutive 50s in ODIs.[5] Raj also holds the record for most half-centuries in WODIs.[6] In June 2018 during the 2018 Women's Twenty20 Asia Cup, she became the first player from India (either male or female) to score 2000 runs in T20Is, and also became the first woman cricketer to reach 2002 WT20I runs.[7][8][9]

In 2005, she became the captain of the side. Raj is the only player (male or female) to have captained India in more than one ICC ODI World Cup final, doing so twice in 2005 and 2017.[10][11] On 1 February 2019, during India's series against New Zealand Women, Raj became the first woman to play in 200 ODI matches.[12] In September 2019, she announced her retirement from T20Is to focus on ODI cricket.[13] The former captain Mithali Raj became the first woman to complete 20 years in international cricket.[14]

She is the recipient of several awards, including the Wisden Leading Woman Cricketer in the World in 2017. She was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2003, and the Padma Shri in 2015, both by the Government of India.

Early life

Mithali Raj was born on 3 December 1982 in a Tamil family in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. Her father is Dorai Raj, who was an Airman (Warrant Officer) in the Indian Air Force, and mother is Leela Raj. Raj started to play the game at age of 10. She lives in Hyderabad, Telangana.[15][16] She attended Keyes High School for Girls in Secunderabad. She attended Kasturba Gandhi Junior College for Women in Secunderabad for her intermediate studies. She started cricket coaching in her school days along with her elder brother. She started practise at school.

Youth and domestic career

Playing for Railways in the domestic competition, Raj began by playing with stars like Purnima Rau, Anjum Chopra and Anju Jain for Air India.[17]

International career

Mithali has played both Test and One Day International cricket for India's women's cricket team.[18] 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.[19] 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[20] 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.[21]

Raj was 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 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.[22] 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, Raj rolls her arm over bowling leg-spinners and providing variety to the attack.

At the 2013 Women's World Cup, 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: 50 with best bowling of 3/4 in ODIs and 50s: 10 in T20s.[23]

In February 2017, she became the second player to score 5,500 runs in WODIs.[5] Raj is the first player to captain most matches for India in ODI and T20I.[24][25]

In July 2017, she became the first player to score 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.[26][27][28]

In December 2017, she was named as one of the players in the ICC Women's ODI Team of the Year.[29][30]

In October 2018, she was named in India's squad for the 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 tournament in the West Indies.[31][32]

In September 2019, Raj has retired from T20I Cricket. She dreams to bring the World Cup to her country by 2021."After representing India in T20 internationals since 2006, I wish to retire from T20Is to focus my energies on readying myself for the 2021 one-day World Cup," she said in a BCCI press statement.[33][34]

Coaching career

Raj was appointed as a batting consultant for India women's national cricket team, and had played as a player-coach.[35]

Records
Raj at the 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup
  • Mithali 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 the Women's World Cup 2005.[36] Harmanpreet Kaur overtook Raj by scoring a century (107 from 109 balls) in the second match of ICC Women's World Cup 2013 against England.
  • Mithali is nicknamed "Lady 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.[37]
  • 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.[38][39]
  • Mithali is the 1st Indian and 5th woman cricketer overall to score over 1,000 World Cup runs.[40]
  • She holds the record for playing the most consecutive Women's One Day Internationals for a team (109).[41]

Controversies

Raj was involved in controversy with cricket management due to her attitude towards the game during the 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20.[42] She accused the coach Ramesh Powar and BCCI COA member Diana Edulji in a letter to BCCI of bias, humiliation and not including her in the T20 world cup semifinals.[43] Powar in turn criticized that Raj had threatened that she would retire from the game of the cricket when asked to play down the batting order.[44] He also accused Raj of 'blackmailing and pressurising coaches' apart from causing division in the team during the recently concluded World T20. He added, "despite being a senior player in the team she puts in minimum inputs in team meetings. She could not understand & adapt to the team plan. She ignored her role and batted for own milestones. Lack of keeping the momentum going which was putting extra pressure on other batters."[45] Raj's 50 against Ireland in the same tournament in which she ended up playing 25 dot balls was also criticized by the coach.[46]

Her relationship with the T20 team's captain Harmanpreet Kaur is also said to be strained.[47]

Awards
President, Shri Pranab Mukherjee presenting the Padma Shri Award to Mithali Raj, New Delhi
Year Award Notes
2003 Arjuna Award[48]
2015 Padma Shri India's fourth highest civilian award[49]
2017 Youth Sports Icon of Excellence Award At the Radiant Wellness Conclave, Chennai[50]
2017 Vogue Sportsperson of the Year At Vogue's 10th anniversary[51]
2017 BBC 100 Women[52]
2017 Wisden Leading Woman Cricketer in the World

Outside cricket

Personal life and interests

Besides cricket, Raj enjoys reading books. She is also a Bharatanatyam dancer.[53]

After the 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup, Viacom 18 Motion Pictures acquired the rights to make a feature film on Raj's life. She said "Hoping that this movie inspires more people, especially young girls to take up sports as a career."[54]

The biopic is in planning and the shoot is scheduled to start in 2019. Raj said "I think Priyanka Chopra will be a great choice (to play me in the biopic). Our personalities match a lot. I am not a movie buff, so I'd love the experts to do their job." [55] However, finally it was decided that Taapsee Pannu will play the role of Mithali Raj in the biopic named as Shabaash Mithu. It will be directed by Rahul Dholakia in 2020.[56]

gollark: It's not very good. Might just need more training.
gollark: Oh, I actually did do this.
gollark: Just become immortal...
gollark: Everyone use tabs and indent with Rust.
gollark: Oppressive arms and robot corporations WHEN?

References

Citations
  1. Mithali Raj ESPN Cricinfo
  2. "Raj finds life lonely at the top". Archived from the original on 20 July 2017. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  3. "Record-setting Raj top of the women's charts". ESPN Cricinfo. Archived from the original on 13 July 2017. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
  4. "Mithali Raj becomes leading run-scorer in women's ODI cricket; surpasses England's Charlotte Edwards". Indian Express. Archived from the original on 13 July 2017. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
  5. "Meshram-Raj and spin quartet to the fore in emphatic India win". International Cricket Council. Archived from the original on 16 February 2017. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  6. "Records | Women's One-Day Internationals | Batting records | Most fifties in career | ESPNcricinfo". Cricinfo. Archived from the original on 27 March 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
  7. "Mithali Raj edges Virat Kohli, becomes first India cricketer to score 2000 T20I runs". Archived from the original on 7 June 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  8. NDTVSports.com. "Women's Asia Cup: Mithali Raj Becomes First Woman To Reach 2000 T20I Runs – NDTV Sports". NDTVSports.com. Archived from the original on 7 June 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  9. "'Consistent run machine': Mithali Raj becomes FIRST Indian to score 2000 runs in T20Is; fans ECSTATIC". The Indian Express. 7 June 2018. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  10. "India's chance to spur a revolution". Archived from the original on 12 November 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
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  12. "Mithali Raj at 200: The best of a record-breaking career". International Cricket Council. Archived from the original on 1 February 2019. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  13. "Mithali Raj retires from T20I cricket". ESPNcricinfo. 3 September 2019. Archived from the original on 3 September 2019. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  14. "Mithali Raj becomes 1st woman to complete 20 years in international cricket". Hindustan Times. 9 October 2019. Archived from the original on 9 October 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
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  16. "Indian women will play test cricket after eight years, captain Mithali Raj happy". Patrika Group (4 August 2014). Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
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  42. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 29 November 2018. Retrieved 29 November 2018.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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  50. "Conclave highlights need for holistic health". www.deccanchronicle.com. 24 September 2017. Archived from the original on 24 September 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  51. "Vogue celebrates 10th anniversary with 1st Vogue Women of the Year Awards". Everything Experiential. Archived from the original on 27 September 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
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  53. "Records, Hobbies, Idols: 10 Things to Know About Mithali Raj". The Quint. 1 July 2017. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  54. "A biopic on Indian women's cricket team captain Mithali Raj in the works". The Indian Express. 26 September 2017. Archived from the original on 29 September 2017. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  55. "Mithali Raj says Priyanka Chopra ideal choice for her biopic - Times of India". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 19 August 2018. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  56. "Mithali Raj's biopic 'Shabaash Mithu' confirmed; Taapsee Pannu 'honoured' to portray cricketer's story". 3 December 2019.

Further reading
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