Mithali Raj is the captain of the Indian Women's cricket team.[1]
Early life and background
Mithali Raj was born on 3 December, 1982 in a Tamil family in Jodhpur, Rajasthan.[2] Mithali's Mother tongue is Tamil, her father, Dorai Raj, was an officer in the Indian Air Force and her mother is Leela Raj. Mithali started to play the game at the age of 10 and at the age of 17, she was picked for the Indian team. Her ODI debut was against Ireland at Milton Keynes in the year 1999. She lives in Hyderabad, Telangana.[3] She attended St. Johns school, Hyderabad for cricket coaching in her school days along with her elder brother. Mithali practised in Keyes Girls High School, Secunderabad often playing male cricketers in the nets.[4][5][6] She has practiced classical dance for eight years[7][8] and she quit dance to pursue her cricket career.[9]
Career
Raj has played both Test and One Day International cricket for India's women's cricket team. She 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 debut in the 2001-02 season against South Africa at Lucknow. On 14 August 2002, at the age of 19, in her third Test, she broke Karen Rolton's record of world’s highest individual Test score of 209*, scoring a new high of 214[10] against England in the second and final Test at County Ground, Taunton. The record has since been surpassed by Kiran Baluch of Pakistan who scored 242 against West Indies in March 2004..
Mithali was taken ill with a strain of typhoid in the CricInfo Women's World Cup in 2002, seriously hampering India's progress. However, she then led them to their first World Cup final in 2005, in South Africa, where they met Australia who proved just too strong. In August 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 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. She currently tops the batting table with 703 ratings points. 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 Raj starred as the No.1 Cricketer in the ODI chart among women. She scored 100s: 1 and 50s: 4 in Test cricket, 100s: 5 and 50s: 36 with best bowling of 3/4 in ODI's and 50s: 7 in T20's.
Raj is the second person to achieve 5000 runs in ODI women cricket.[11]
Domestic career
Playing for Railways in the domestic competition, Mithali began by playing with stars like Purnima Rau, Anjum Chopra and Anju Jain for Air India.[12]
Cricket performance
- Mithali Raj held the record for the highest individual score by an Indian Woman Cricketer in a World Cup match (91 notout of 104 deliveries which included 9 fours) against New Zealand in Women's World Cup 2005.[13] Harmanpreet Kaur overtook Mithali Raj by scoring a century 107 from 109 balls in second match of ICC Women's World Cup 2013 against England.
- Mithali is nicknamed as the "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.
Awards
- 2003 – Arjuna award, by the Government of India in recognition of her achievement in sports.[14]
- 2015 – Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award.[15]
References
External links
|
|---|
| Major teams
(World level) | |
|---|
| | Continental level | |
|---|
| | Minor teams |
- Ice hockey (M: Mushtague Giri, M U18: Stanzin Namgyal)
- Handball (M, W: Rajwant Kaur)
- Netball: Prachi Tehlan
- Rugby 7's (M: Nasser Hussain, W: Surabhi Date)
|
|---|
|
|
|---|
| | Squad: | |
|---|
| | Support staff: |
- Team director: n/a
- Head coach: Purnima Rau
- Assistant coach: n/a
- Bowling coach: n/a
- Fielding coach: n/a
|
|---|
| Only BCCI's contracted players for 2015-16 or who have played in the most recent series are listed. A fuller list of recent players can be found at the main article. |
|
