Living up to her name "Raj" and rendering complete justice to it, Mithali has become one of the greatest female batters the world has ever seen. It is almost ironical that the child who was forced into cricket as a 14-year-old kid has now gone on to become one of the greats, that the game will ever see. The woman with most runs in the game not only changed the women's cricketing scenario in India but also made sure that her name is etched in history books of the game. As she bids goodbye to the sport she has achieved so much from, to a sport she has contributed so much to, lets try and map out how she ruled women's cricket consistently for so many years.
The legend who has innumerable accolades to her name is the second and the only Indian woman cricketer to scale the mountain of 10,000 runs. One of the highlights of her career is the fact that she is the only cricketer to lead her team into two world cup finals. At 16, when she burst on the international arena, Raj delivered with the word go and scored an unbeaten 114 on ODI debut. Raj, who also happens to be a Bharatnatyam dancer found it extremely easy to execute tricky footwork.
The former India skipper holds the world record for most number of matches as captain (155) and also has the highest batting average (50.68) in women's one-day internationals. The talisman of Indian cricket reached the pinnacle of her scoring prowess when she went ahead of England's Charlotte Edwards (10,237) and became the leading run scorer across all formats of the game. Raj with a tally of 7,304 runs (ODIs) and 2,364 runs (T20Is) is also ahead of her counterparts Suzie Bates (7,849), Stefanie Taylor (7,832) and Meg Lanning (7,024).
Most runs scored by female batsmen across all formats
The former India captain had this magical capability of toying with the bowlers and making runs at her own will. A leader with the nerves of steel, Raj holds the record for being the youngest test captain (22y 353d). After that hundred on debut, Mithali never looked back and became the youngest player to score a double century (19y 254d).
Mithali's achievements in coming times will be very hard to replicate and her performances shall be counted in as valuable masterclasses on which the future generations shall thrive upon.
