The Sachin Tendulkar of the women’s cricket Mithali Raj is known for breaking the old records and creating new ones. The history maker still playing a significant role in the team’s performance is known for her tremendous display of footwork and lofted cover drives which makes her so special.
Like Sachin Tendulkar, Mithali raj also got debuted to Indian cricket at the age of 17 and made so many records in the international arena. She is the women who proved that one’s will matter a lot than circumstance gender and other things. No doubt she is a true inspiration to budding youngsters who want to achieve something in their life. One of the all-time greatest batswomen in the history of the game Mithali Raj had a passion for the game right from her childhood. A fierce warrior in the field and an adamant book reader and softspoken women Mithali Raj has her own story that will inspire the millions of people all around the world
Mithali Raj’s Early life
Mithali Raj was born on December 3, 1982, in Rajasthan in a Tamil family, where her father Dorai raj is a warrant officer in the Indian airforce and her mother Leela raj is a housewife. She is a Tamilian and currently residing at Secunderabad, Telangana. She started her career only at the age of 10 and was selected to the Indian national squad at the age of 17. Mithali started cricket coaching during her school days along with her elder brother.
She used to practice with male cricketers. In an interview she said practicing with male cricketers helped her to horn her skills and gave the courage to handle the fast bowling effectively. In order to match the male cricketers, she focused more on fitness and fielding that made her a complete player at international level. She did her schoolings at Keyes high school for girls in Secunderabad and graduated at Gandhi junior college for women. At the domestic level, she is representing Indian Railways team.
The Rise of Mithali Raj: An Overview of her Career
Mithali Raj made headlines when she was named among the probable for 1997 women’s world cup but unfortunately, she couldn’t make it to the final squad. She scored a century on her one day debut two years later against Ireland. She made her test debut in 2001 against South Africa in Lucknow. Since then Mithali had been prominent member of the Indian squad due to her stellar performances. She announced her grand arrival into the international arena by scoring 214 runs in a test match against England. She surpassed Karen Rolten’s previous record of 209 runs and became the highest individual run-getter.
Soon she became the unavoidable member of Indian squad, but suffered typhoid during the 2002 world cup. It was the major setback to India before entering the tournament. But 2006 she successfully led India into the finals of the world cup where they suffered a defeat against the stronger Australian side. She is also a part-time leg-spinner which comes handy in tougher situations. Her ability to stand in the crease and ability to score runs at brisk space made her the finest cricketer of all time.
She has scored around 6,373 runs in 194 matches at the average of 50.18 the most by any player in the history of the game. she has also scored 2,045 runs at the average of 38.01 in 74 t20 matches.
Achievements
- Once Mithali Raj was the highest individual run-getter for India in world cups later that record was broken by Harmanpreet Kaur
- As mentioned earlier, she is the world’s highest run-getter in the history of the game.
- Mithali led India to the victory of the 2005 Asia cup. She also guided India to the finals in 2005 and 2017 world cups where they eventually lost to Australia and England respectively.
- She is the leading run scorer for India in all formats of the game.
- Mithali Raj got a rare recognition at the 2017 world cup as she becomes the first Indian and 5th overall to score 1000 runs in the world cup.
- Mithali Raj is the only player who played 109 consecutive one-day internationals which speak the volume of her fitness standards.
- Mithali Raj scored 7 consecutive fifties in the 2017 world cup the one player to do so in the history of the game.
- She was named one of the players ICC team of the year for one-day internationals.
- She is also named in the Indian squad for the upcoming T20 world cup.
Awards and Felicitations
- She was appointed as the batting consultant for India. She was first player-coach for India.
- She was awarded Arjuna award the second highest sports award of India in 2003.
- She was awarded Padma Shri in 2015 the fourth highest civilian award
- Mithali Raj was named as the vogue sportsman of the year in 2017
- She was also one among the 100 women icons named in the BBC women icons of the year 2017.
Nicknamed as Sachin Tendulkar of Indian women’s cricket Mithali Raj broke all odds and raised as the best player. Her hard work and ability to update her technique according to the demands of the game made her the best cricket in the world. “Success is not a destination it is a continuous journey” this will definitely suit Mithali. She will do more records for sure before retiring from international cricket.
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