Mithali Raj
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Mithali Dorai Raj (born 3 December 1982) is an Indian
cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
er and a former
captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
of the
India women's national cricket team The India women's national cricket team, also known as Team India or Women in Blue, represents India in women's international cricket. It is governed by Board of Control for Cricket in India India made its Test debut in 1976, against the West ...
from 2004 to 2022. Mithali is the highest run-scorer in women's international cricket and is considered one of the greatest cricketers of all time. Mithali 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 Women's One Day International (WODI) is the limited overs form of women's cricket. Matches are scheduled for 50 overs, equivalent to the men's game. The first women's ODIs were played in 1973, as part of the first Women's World Cup which was ...
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 June 2018, during the 2018 Women's Twenty20 Asia Cup, she became the first player from India to score 2000 runs in T20Is, and also became the first female cricketer to reach 2000
WT20I Women's Twenty20 International (WT20I) is the shortest form of women's international cricket. A women's Twenty20 International is a 20 overs-per-side cricket match between two of the International Cricket Council (ICC) members. The first Twe ...
runs. In 2005, Mithali 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
2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
and 2017. On 1 February 2019, during India's series against New Zealand Women, Mithali 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. Mithali is the recipient of several national and international awards, including the ''Wisden'' Leading Woman Cricketer in the World in 2017,
Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...
in 2003, the
Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...
in 2015, and
Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna The Khel Ratna Award (), officially known as the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award ( Major Dhyan Chand Sport Jewel Award), is the highest sporting honour of India. It is awarded annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Governm ...
in 2021. In July 2021, Mithali became the leading run-scorer in women's international cricket, surpassing
Charlotte Edwards Charlotte Marie Edwards (born 17 December 1979) is an English former cricketer and current cricket coach and commentator. She played primarily as a right-handed batter. She appeared in 23 Test matches, 191 One Day Internationals and 95 Twenty ...
' previous record of 10,273 runs. On 8 June 2022, Mithali announced her retirement from all formats of
international cricket International cricket matches are played between teams representing their nations, normally organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The main forms are Test matches, One-Day matches and Twenty20 matches. Most games are played ...
.


Early life

Mithali Raj was born on December 3rd, 1982, in
Jodhpur Jodhpur (; ) is the second-largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan and officially the second metropolitan city of the state. It was formerly the seat of the princely state of Jodhpur State. Jodhpur was historically the capital of the Ki ...
,
Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...
. Her mother is Leela Raj, and her father, Dorai Raj, was an Airman (Warrant Officer) in the
Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...
. Mithali started to play cricket at the age of 10. She lives in
Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...
,
Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...
. She attended Keyes High School for Girls in Hyderabad, and attended Kasturba Gandhi Junior College for Women in Secunderabad for her intermediate studies. She started receiving cricket coaching in her school days along with her elder brother.


Domestic career

Playing for
Railways Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
in the domestic competition, Mithali began by playing with cricket stars like
Purnima Rau Purnima Rau (; born 30 January 1967) is an Indian former cricketer and current cricket coach. She played as an all-rounder, batting right-handed and bowling right-arm off break. She appeared in five Test matches and 33 One Day Internationals f ...
,
Anjum Chopra Anjum Chopra (born 20 May 1977) is an Indian former cricketer and current cricket commentator. The first time she stepped onto the cricket ground was at the age of 9. She played her first friendly match with the college girls' team at the inter ...
and Anju Jain for Air India. She has played for the
Supernovas A supernova is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. It has the plural form supernovae or supernovas, and is abbreviated SN or SNe. This transient astronomical event occurs during the last stellar evolution, evolutionary stages of a mass ...
and
Velocity Velocity is the directional speed of an object in motion as an indication of its rate of change in position as observed from a particular frame of reference and as measured by a particular standard of time (e.g. northbound). Velocity is a ...
in the
Women's T20 Challenge The Women's T20 Challenge was an Indian women's cricket Twenty20 tournament that was held between 2018 and 2022. The tournament featured three teams, playing a round-robin group followed by a final. IPL Supernovas were the most successful team ...
.


International career

Mithali has played all three cricket formats for India: Test, One Day and T20. 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. She made her One Day International debut in 1999 against Ireland at
Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...
and scored an unbeaten 114 runs. She made her test debut in the 2001–02 season against South Africa at Lucknow. On August 17th, 2002, at the age of 19, in her third test, she broke
Karen Rolton Karen Louise Rolton (born 21 November 1974) is an Australian former cricketer and captain of the national women's team. A left-handed batter, she has scored the most runs for her country in women's Test cricket. International cricket After m ...
's record of world's highest individual Test score of 209*, scoring a new high of 214 against England in the second and final Test at County Ground,
Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...
. The record has since been surpassed by
Kiran Baluch Kiran Maqsood Baluch (born 23 February 1978) is a Pakistani former cricketer who played as an all-rounder, batting right-handed and bowling right-arm off break. She appeared in three Test matches and 40 One Day Internationals for Pakistan. She h ...
of
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
who scored 242 against West Indies in March 2004. Mithali was ill with typhoid during the CricInfo Women's World Cup in 2002, which seriously hampered the performance of India. However, she led India to their first finals in
2005 Women's Cricket World Cup The 2005 Women's Cricket World Cup was the eighth Women's Cricket World Cup, held in South Africa from 22 March to 10 April 2005. It was the first edition of the tournament to be hosted by South Africa. The World Cup was the final tournament org ...
, in South Africa, where they lost to
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. In August of 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 is a part-time leg-break bowler as well. She is a recipient of the
Arjuna award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...
for 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 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. In February 2017, she became the second player to score 5,500 runs in WODIs. Mithali is the first player to captain 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 Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
of the 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup where the team lost to
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
by nine runs.England v India: Women's World Cup final – live!
, ''The Guardian'', 23 July 2017.
In December 2017, she was named as one of the players in the ICC Women's ODI Team of the Year. In October 2018, she was named to India's squad for the
2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 The 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 was the sixth edition of the ICC Women's World Twenty20, hosted in the West Indies from 9 to 24 November 2018. It the second World Twenty20 hosted by the West Indies (after the 2010 edition), and the West Ind ...
tournament in the West Indies. In September 2019, Mithali retired from T20I Cricket. She dreams of bringing 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. In November 2020, Mithali was nominated for the Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Award for ICC Female Cricketer of the Decade, and the award for women's ODI cricketer of the decade. In May 2021, she was named captain of India's
Test squad Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...
for their one-off match against the
England women's cricket team The England women's cricket team represents England and Wales in international women's cricket. Since 1998, they have been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by the Women's Cricket Association ...
. In January 2022, she was named captain of India's team for the 2022 Women's Cricket World Cup in New Zealand. On June 8th, 2022, Mithali announced her retirement from all formats of
International cricket International cricket matches are played between teams representing their nations, normally organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The main forms are Test matches, One-Day matches and Twenty20 matches. Most games are played ...
after an illustrious career.


Coaching career

Mithali was appointed batting consultant for
India women's national cricket team The India women's national cricket team, also known as Team India or Women in Blue, represents India in women's international cricket. It is governed by Board of Control for Cricket in India India made its Test debut in 1976, against the West ...
, and has played as a
player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...
.


Records

* 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. * During the 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup, Mithali scored her seventh consecutive half-century and made a record for most consecutive fifties by a player. * Mithali is the 1st Indian and 5th woman cricketer overall to score over 1,000 World Cup runs. * She holds the record for playing the most consecutive
Women's One Day Internationals Women's One Day International (WODI) is the limited overs form of women's cricket. Matches are scheduled for 50 overs, equivalent to the men's game. The first women's ODIs were played in 1973, as part of the first Women's World Cup which was ...
for a team (109). Mithali Raj was involved in controversy with cricket management due to her attitude towards the game during the
2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 The 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 was the sixth edition of the ICC Women's World Twenty20, hosted in the West Indies from 9 to 24 November 2018. It the second World Twenty20 hosted by the West Indies (after the 2010 edition), and the West Ind ...
. She accused the coach
Ramesh Powar Ramesh Rajaram Powar (born 20 May 1978) is a former Indian cricketer. Powar was selected in 2000 for the first intake of the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. and again he was named as India women's cricket team coach in 2021 June. Powar ...
and BCCI COA member
Diana Edulji Diana Fram Edulji (born 26 January 1956) is a former Indian Test cricketer. Born in Mumbai to a Parsi family, she was drawn to sports at an early age. She grew up playing cricket with a tennis ball in the railway colony where she lived. She the ...
in a letter to the
BCCI The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the national governing body for cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at Cricket centre, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The BCCI is the richest governing body of cricket in the worl ...
of bias, and of humiliating her by not including her in the T20 world cup semifinals. Powar, in turn, criticized Mithali for threatening to retire from cricket when asked to play down the batting order. He also accused Mithali of 'blackmailing and pressuring 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 and 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." Mithali's 50 against Ireland in the same tournament in which she ended up playing 25 dot balls was also criticized by coach Powar. Her relationship with the T20 team's captain Harmanpreet Kaur is also said to be strained. However, after reappointment of Ramesh Powar as Head Coach of the Indian women's cricket team in May 2021, the two have reconciled. Mithali and Harmanpreet also confirmed in various interviews that there is no bad blood between them.


Awards


Outside cricket


Personal life and interests

She is a
Bharatanatyam Bharatanatyam () is a major form of Indian classical dance that originated in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the eight widely recognized Indian classical dance forms, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas, particularly of S ...
dancer.


In popular culture

After the 2017
Women's Cricket World Cup The ICC Women's Cricket World Cup is the sport's oldest world championship, with the first tournament held in England in 1973. Matches are played as One Day Internationals (ODIs) over 50 overs per team, while there is also another champion ...
, Viacom 18 Motion Pictures acquired the rights to make a feature film on Mithali's life. She said, "Hoping that this movie inspires more people, especially young girls to take up sports as a career." Shooting was scheduled to start in 2019. Mithali 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." However, finally it was decided that
Taapsee Pannu Taapsee Pannu (born 1 August 1987) is an Indian actress who works primarily in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil films. She is the recipient of three Filmfare Awards. After a brief modelling career, Pannu ventured into acting with the Telugu film ' ...
would play the role of Mithali Raj in the biopic named '' Shabaash Mithu''. It was to be directed by
Rahul Dholakia Rahul Dholakia is an Indian film director- producer-screenwriter, most known for his National Film Award-winning film, ''Parzania '' (Heaven & Hell On Earth) (2005),Srijit Mukherji Srijit Mukherji is an excellent national award winning Indian film director and screenwriter who predominantly works in Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali cinema. His regular collaboration with veteran actor Prosenjit Chatterjee brought him into the ...
replaced him as director. The film was released on 15 July 2022. The movie was a financial disaster, earning only rupees 2.88
crore A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is e ...
from a budget of 30.0 crore.


References


Citations


Further reading

* * * * *


External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Raj, Mithali 1982 births Living people Air India women cricketers Central Zone women cricketers Cricketers from Hyderabad, India Indian women cricketers Indian women cricket captains India women Test cricketers India women One Day International cricketers India women Twenty20 International cricketers People from Jodhpur Railways women cricketers IPL Supernovas cricketers IPL Velocity cricketers Recipients of the Arjuna Award Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports Sportswomen from Rajasthan Women cricketers who made a century on One Day International debut BBC 100 Women Wisden Leading Woman Cricketers in the World Recipients of the Khel Ratna Award 21st-century Indian women 21st-century Indian people