Mithali Raj (1982-Present)
One of the best women cricket players in India, Mithali Raj is a real motivation to many. Over her long career, she smashed several records and guided the Indian squad with bravery. Among women's international cricket, Mithali is the top run scorer and the first woman to have played 200 ODI games. Young ladies looked up to her for her calm attitude, great focus, and hard work. Her journey shows how strong determination and passion can lead to big success. This blog shows her path, successes, and the strong message she offers to the world: to dream big and never give up, no matter how difficult.
Early Life and Education
Mithali Raj was born in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, in a Tamil-speaking family. Her father served in the Indian Air Force, and her mother was a homemaker. She grew up in Hyderabad. Mithali started playing cricket when she was just 10 years old. She went to Keyes High School for Girls and later studied at Kasturba Gandhi Junior College. She trained in cricket from a young age, practicing with her older brother.
Domestic Career
Mithali played domestic cricket for Air India with top players like Purnima Rau and Anjum Chopra. Later, she joined the Railways team and played in India’s Women’s T20 Challenge for teams like Supernovas and Velocity.
International Career
Mithali played in all formats of cricket for India — Test, ODI, and T20. At 14, she was selected for the Women’s World Cup camp but didn’t make the final team. She made her ODI debut in 1999, scoring 114* runs. In 2002, she broke the world record for the highest individual score in Test cricket with 214 runs.
She led India to its first World Cup final in 2005 and won their first Test series in England in 2006. Mithali became the top ODI batter in the 2013 World Cup. She scored many runs in all formats and was the first woman to score 6,000 runs in ODIs. In the year 2017, she led India to another World Cup final, narrowly losing to England.
She retired from T20 cricket in 2019 to focus on the 2021 World Cup. In 2020, she was nominated for ICC’s Cricketer of the Decade awards. She was India’s Test and ODI captain until her retirement from all formats in the year June 2022.
Coaching Career
After retiring, Mithali worked as a batting consultant for the Indian women’s cricket team and also helped as a player-coach.
Records
Nicknamed “Lady Tendulkar” for leading runs in all formats.
First Indian woman to cross 1,000 runs in World Cups.
Holds record for most consecutive ODIs (109) for India.
Scored 7 back-to-back fifties in 2017 World Cup.
Awards
Mithali Raj has received many top awards for her outstanding cricket career.
2003 – Arjuna Award (Second highest sporting honour)
2015 – Padma Shri (Fourth highest civilian award)
2017 – Youth Sports Icon of Excellence Award
2017 – Vogue Sportsperson of the Year
2017 – BBC 100 Women & Wisden Cricketer
2021 – Khel Ratna (India’s highest sports award)
