Mithali Raj (Born on 3 December, 1982 in Jodhpur, Rajasthan) is a former cricketer and captain of Indian women's cricket team. She is a right handed bats woman and right arm leg spin bowler. Mithali 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.
Mithali is the highest run-scorer in women's international cricket and the only female cricketer to surpass the 6,000 run mark in WODIs. Mithali is the first player to score 7 consecutive 50s in ODIs. Raj also holds the record for most half-centuries in WODIs. Mithali Raj most matches captained player for India in ODI and T20I.
Mithali Raj made her One Day International debut in 1999 against Ireland at Milton Keynes and scored 114 runs without getting out in that match. She made her Test match debut in the 2001-02 season against England at Lucknow. She became famous for her score of 214 runs in a Test match against England at Taunton. The middle-order bat now has the second highest score in women's Test cricket. India also made their highest test score of 467 runs.
Mithali Raj became the fifth player to reach 3,000 ODI runs. She led the Indian team to the finals in the Women's Cricket World Cup of 2005 where the team lost to Australia. She is a part-time leg break bowler as well. She is a recipient of the Arjuna award for the year 2003.
Mithali Raj is a India’s most able woman cricketer who made or got her career great success in cricket. Playing for Railways in the domestic competition, Mithali started her career by playing with stars like Purnima Rau,Anjum Chopra and Anju Jain for Air India. She has emerged as one of India’s most dependable batswomen, scoring heavily in both One-Dayers and Tests.
As at 22 Feb 2010, Mithali Raj was the number 1 batswoman in the ICC World Women's Cricket rankings. On 12 July 2012 Mithali Raj, captain of the Indian women's team, returned to the top of the International Cricket Council Women's One-Day International rankings for batters after top-scoring in India's five-match series against England.
Mithali Raj was the No.1 Cricketer in the ODI chart among women in 2013 Women's World Cup. 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. Mithali Raj honored with Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India in 2015.
In July 2017, Mithali Raj 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. In December 2017, Mithali was named as one of the players in the ICC Women's ODI Team of the Year. Mithali won Youth Sports Icon of Excellence Award and Vogue Sportsperson of the Year in 2017. She features on BBC's 100 Women list in 2017.
Mithali Raj's Hobbies include reading biographies and cooking. As a child, she was trained in Bharata Natyam, an Indian classical dance and gave stage performances. She is employed with the Indian Railways. Mithali is also known as "Tendulkar of Indian women's cricket".
