Captain - Mithali Raj is not only the poster girl of India’s women’s cricket but also the biggest icon of the game in the country. Known for her combative and all-round batting skills, Mithali is not only regarded among India’s premier batters but has also earned herself a reputation for being the best in the world in women’s cricket.
In the ICC Women’s World Cup opener against England, the right-handed batsman played a scintillating knock of 71 that helped her team to post a strong total of 281/3 in 50 overs. India’s openers - Poonam Raut (86) and Smriti Mandhana (90) too contributed with impressive knocks.
During her steady knock against the hosts, Mithali broke a couple of records as she notched up her 47th half-century of her ODI career. This is the most number of ODI half-centuries (47) by any woman cricketer.
She also set a world record of scoring seven consecutive fifties which is the most by any woman player in ODIs. Mithali has scored fifty in every innings she has played since 7th Feb 2017. With this knock, Raj went past Lindsay Reeler, Charlotte Edwards and Ellyse Perry who holds the record of six consecutive fifties.
On her debut match against Ireland in 1999, Mithali scored a brilliant hundred and led her team to victory by a huge margin of 161 runs. During her 18-year long career, the champion cricketer has smashed many records. Mithali has scored 5852 runs in 178 games (including England match on Saturday) and is on course to become the first cricketer to reach 6000 ODI runs.
