Mithali Raj announces retirement from cricket: Decoding her career records
On Wednesday, veteran Indian cricketer Mithali Raj announced her retirement from the sport. One of the most celebrated cricketers, Mithali brings an end to an illustrious career that spanned over two decades. She announced the same through a heartfelt note on social media. In her career, Mithali went on to script numerous records for the Indian women's cricket team. We decode the same.
In 232 ODI matches, Mithali scored 7,805 runs at an average of 50.68. She hammered seven centuries and 64 fifties. Mithali claimed 64 catches. In 12 Tests, Mithali scored 699 runs at 43.68. She managed one century and four fifties. In 89 T20Is, Mithali managed 2,364 runs at 37.52. She slammed 17 half-centuries with the best score of 97*.
Mithali is the highest scorer in women's ODI cricket to date. In fact, no other batter has even gotten past 6,000 ODI runs. The next best tally in terms of run scorers is former England woman cricketer CM Edwards, who managed 5,992 runs at 38.16. West Indies' S Taylor (5,992) and New Zealand's Suzie Bates (5,298) are the others with 5,000-plus ODI runs.
In the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup, Mithali has amassed 1,321 runs at 47.17. She is the second-highest scorer in the Women's World Cup after former NZ star DA Hockley, who managed 1,501 runs. Mithali is one of the six cricketers to amass 1,100-plus runs in World Cup history. Among the current lot, Meg Lanning has 948 runs at 52.66.
Mithali is also the top scorer for India in T20Is. However, Harmanpreet Kaur, who has 2,319 runs is set to surpass Mithali next. Smriti Mandhana (1,971) is also closing in.
Mithali is also the highest scorer for India in ICC Women's T20 World Cup. Mithali, who last featured at the 2018 ICC Women's World T20, managed 726 runs in total at 40.33. She is overall the sixth-highest scorer.
At 19 years and 254 days, Mithali is still the youngest double-centurion in Test cricket (women's). She holds the record for the highest seventh-wicket stand in Test cricket (157). She has the most nineties in women's ODIs (5). She has the record for the longest career in women's ODIs (22y 274d). She has the third-most catches in women's ODIs (64).
