Happy Birthday Mithali Raj: Seven records held by Indian women’s cricket team legend

Mithali Raj celebrates her 38^th birthday on December 3 and she is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest women cricketers ever. The achievements of Mithali Raj have put women’s cricket in India on the world map and it is a testament to Mithali Raj’s brilliance that India have managed to go the distance in major ICC events. She has achieved plenty of records in her career and some may never ever be broken. Mithali Raj’s scale of achievements is grand and it puts her on par with legends of cricket, be it men or women. On the occasion of her birthday, here are the seven records that are held by Mithali Raj. Just to note, these records are staggering and jaw-dropping and it truly highlights Mithali Raj as the giant of the game.

21 - Number of years that Mithali Raj has played international cricket. She is the first women cricketer in history to play for over two decades. Mithali Raj, Shoaib Malik and Harbhajan Singh are the only cricketers from the 90s to still be playing international cricket.

6888 - Number of runs scored by Mithali Raj in women’s ODIs which is the most by any player. Mithali Raj became the leading run-scorer in ODIs during the 2017 Women’s World Cup and she needs just 112 runs to become the first women cricketer on the planet to score 7000 runs.

53 - Number of fifties scored by Mithali Raj in ODIs, which is the most by any women cricketer. She is the only woman player to score fifty 50s, with the next best being 46 by Charlotte Edwards of England.

2 - Number of times Mithali Raj has led India to the final of a major ICC event. She is the only player, male or female from India to have ever achieved this feat. However, she has not yet won an ICC event.

214 - Mithali Raj’s highest score in Tests. She is the only Indian player and only the seveth women cricketer to score a double century in Tests. Her knock came in 2002 against England in Taunton and it helped India secure a drawn series.

7 - Number of consecutive fifties scored by Mithali Raj and she is the first woman cricketer to achieve this feat. In 2017, during the series against Sri Lanka and South Africa, Mithali Raj's sequence of scores read 70*, 64, 73*, 51*, 54, 62*, 71.

16 - Mithali Raj's age when she made a century on debut in the ODI against Ireland in Milton Keynes in 1999. Her exact age was 16 years and 205 days and even today, she remains the youngest female debutant to score a century in ODIs.