Mithali Raj

Mithali Dorai Raj (born 3 December 1982) is an Indian former cricketer and captain of the India women's national cricket team from 2004 to 2022.

She is the highest run-scorer in women's international cricket, and ESPN ranked her as one of the greatest female cricketers of all time.

Mithali Raj was born on 3 December 1982, in Jodhpur, Rajasthan to a Tamil family.

Her mother is Leela Raj, and her father, Dorai Raj, was a warrant officer in the Indian Air Force.

She lives in Hyderabad, Telangana.

Raj started playing cricket at the age of ten.

She graduated from Keyes High School for Girls in Hyderabad, and Kasturba Gandhi Junior College for Women in Secunderabad.

She received cricket coaching in elementary school alongside her older brother.

Raj played for Air India alongside Purnima Rau, Anjum Chopra, and Anju Jain, before joining Railways for the domestic championship.

She has played for the Supernovas and Velocity in the Women's T20 Challenge.

Raj has played all three of India's cricket formats: Test, ODI, and T20.

She was named among the probables for the 1997 Women's Cricket World Cup when she was fourteen, but she did not make it to the final squad.

She made her ODI debut in 1999 against Ireland at Milton Keynes, UK, and scored an unbeaten 114 runs.

She also became the first female cricketer to reach 2000 WT20I runs.

She made her Test debut in the 2001–02 season against South Africa at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.

On 17 August 2002, at the age of 19, she broke Karen Rolton's world record for the highest individual test score of 209* in her third test, scoring a new high of 214 against England in the second and final test at County Ground, Taunton, UK.

Mithali Raj won the 2003 Arjuna award.

The record has since been surpassed by Kiran Baluch of Pakistan, who scored 242 against the West Indies in March 2004.

In 2005, Mithali Raj became the permanent captain of India.

She is the only female player to have captained India in more than one ICC ODI World Cup final, doing so twice in the 2005 and the 2017.

In South Africa in 2005, Raj led India to their first finals in 2005 Women's Cricket World Cup, where they lost to Australia.

In August 2006 she led her team to their first-ever Test and series victory in England, and concluded the year by successfully defending the Asia Cup without losing a single game.

At the 2013 Women's World Cup, Raj was the number 1 woman ODI cricketer.

In her career, she scored one century and four fifties in Test cricket, five centuries and five fifties in ODIs, together with best bowling figures of 3–4 in ODIs, and ten fifties in T20s.

Raj has received several national and international awards, including the Wisden Leading Woman Cricketer in the World in 2017, Arjuna Award in 2003, the Padma Shri in 2015, and Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna in 2021.

Raj holds numerous records in international cricket.

She is the only female cricketer to surpass the 7,000-run mark in Women's One Day International (WODI) matches.

She is the first player to score seven consecutive 50s in ODIs.

She also holds the record for most half-centuries in WODIs.

In February 2017 she became the second player to score 5,500 runs in ODIs.

Raj is the first player to captain the most matches for India in ODI and T20I.

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.

In December 2017 she played on the ICC Women's ODI Team of the Year.

In June 2018, during the 2018 Women's Twenty20 Asia Cup, she became the first player from India to score 2000 runs in T20Is.

On 1 February 2019, during India's series against New Zealand Women, Mithali Raj became the first woman to play in 200 ODI matches.

In September 2019 she announced her retirement from T20Is to focus on ODI cricket.

In 2019, she became the first woman to complete 20 years in international cricket.

In July 2021, Raj broke Charlotte Edwards's record of 10,273 runs to become the player with the most runs in women's international cricket.

On 8 June 2022, Raj announced her retirement from all formats of international cricket.