STATS ANALYSIS
Follow UsFor more than two decades, there have been two batters who have conquered the world, Sachin Tendulkar and Mithali Raj. Interestingly, both made their debuts at the exact same age, 16 years and 205 days and both of them are the leading run scorers in internationals. Phew! Can we call it a mother of coincidence?
After a career that spanned 22 years, the Indian skipper and the most successful batter has finally decided to retire at the age of 39 years. Throughout her career, Mithali has held numerous records and most of them have been in ODIs. Here are few of her career stats:
Most International runs
In 2021, in the ODI series against South Africa in Lucknow, Raj became the second batter to reach 10k runs in women’s internationals after Charlotte Edwards.
Not too long, in the third ODI against England in the same year, Raj went past Edwards' tally of 10273. In the end, at the time of her retirement, with 10,868 runs to her name in internationals, Raj is at the summit of women’s cricket. She is also the highest run-scorer in W-ODIs (7805).
A prolonged career
Making her debut at a young age, Raj had a long successful career. She made her international debut in 1999 against Ireland in ODIs. She played her first Women’s Test in 2002 and her first Women’s T20I in 2006. From her debut till her retirement, Mithali’s career has spanned for 22 years and 274 days. Which is the longest for a Women's player. To add more, her career span is the longest for a player in the ODI format, men or women.
2nd Youngest player to a century
Raj was 16 years and 205 days when she made her debut against Ireland in 1999 where she scored an unbeaten 114. This was also the first instance of a women batter scoring a century on debut against a country. Fellow debutant Reshma Gandhi also scored an unbeaten 104, but Raj was the first to reach her ton.
Until October 2021, Raj was the youngest centurion in all internationals, surpassing Shahid Afridi, who scored his first at 16 years and 217 days. But, Amy Hunter of Ireland, scored a ton on her 16th birthday against Zimbabwe to emulate Raj’s record.
Most consecutive 50+ scores in W-ODIs
Raj has scored 71 scores of over 50, 64 half-centuries and seven centuries, the most 50+ scores in W-ODIs. In the year 2017, Raj scored nine half-centuries and one century. Out of those nine, seven 50+ scores came in succession. In ODIs, only Javed Mindad (9) has had more scores of 50+ in consecutive innings than Raj’s seven. In W-ODI’s her feat is the longest consecutive streak.
The mistress of chase
Of the total 7,805 ODI runs Raj has scored, 58.7 percent of them have come in winning causes, underlining her vitality in the team’s success. She averaged 70.5 in the matches India has won, the most among batters who have scored 1500+ runs in wins in W-ODIs. The record skyrockets when chasing. Raj has scored over 3000 runs while chasing and more than 2000 runs have come in wins. In a successful chase she has a stupendous average of 109.05. No batter who has scored 1500+ runs in a chase has bettered Raj’s average in ODIs, not even MS Dhoni (102.7) or Virat Kohli (94.7).
Consistency, one of the key features
Raj’s average of 50.7 is the second-best among women with 2000+ W-ODI runs, a testimony of her consistency. If that isn’t enough, here is more. Raj has scored more than 500 runs in a calendar year across five years.
In W-ODIs, she is levelled with Edwards, who also has hit 500 runs in a year across five years. Edwards in 1997, 2000, 2004, 2005 & 2013 scored over 500 runs. Mithali achieved this feat in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2017 & 2021. Tammy Beaumont, who is third on the list, scored 500 runs across four years (2016, 2017, 2019 & 2021).
A born leader
Raj captained India in 2004 against West Indies for the first time. However, her full-time captaincy duties started against Australia in their tour to India later in 2004.
Since then, Raj captained India in 155 ODIs, which is the most by any player in W-ODIs. No other captain till date has led their team in more than 120 matches. In these 155 matches, India won 89 and lost 63 with three no results. In W-ODIs, her 89 wins are the most for a captain and her 63 losses are also the most.
The only double centurion among Indians – Tests
Raj hasn’t played many W-Tests. In fact, since she made her debut in 2002, India itself has played only 12 Tests and in all the 12, Raj has been a part of. In those 12 Tests, she has scored only one century and in the same innings, she converted it to a double century.
Against England in Taunton, Raj scored 214 while batting at number four. In W-Tests, only seven batters have scored a double century and Raj is one of them. To be precise, her score of 214, is still the second-best by a woman batter in Tests. To add more, she was 19 years and 254 days old at the start of the match when she scored a double. In Tests, among men or women, only Javed Miandad registered a double at a younger age (19 years and 140 days).
