Mithali Raj becomes first woman cricketer with 7,000 ODI runs
India Women's ODI captain Mithali Raj has become the first batswoman to complete 7,000 runs in ODI cricket. She achieved the historic milestone while batting in the fourth ODI against South Africa Women. Mithali has been the leading run-scorer in women's ODIs for quite a while. In the third ODI, she went on to register 10,000 runs in international cricket. Here is more.
A significant milestone for Mithali
Mithali crossed the 7,000-run mark in her 192nd innings. Notably, she was also the first woman cricketer to complete 6,000 ODI runs. The Indian skipper now has 7,019 runs from 213 ODIs at a formidable average of 50.49. She owns 7 hundreds and 54 fifties in the format. Interestingly, Mithali has 1,027 more runs than the next-best Charlotte Edwards (5,992) on the tally.
First Indian batswoman with 10,000 international runs
In the third ODI against South Africa Women, Mithali became the first Indian batswoman to complete 10,000 runs in international cricket. Overall, she became only the second player in women's cricket to have reached the landmark.
Feats attained by Mithali over the years
Mithali made her international debut on June 26, 1999 in an ODI against Ireland Women. She remains the only woman cricketer to have completed 20 years in international cricket. The 38-year-old is currently the leading run-scorer for India in white-ball cricket (ODIs: 7019, T20Is: 2,364). Mithali also holds the record for captaining a team in most number of ODIs (136).
A look at the match summary (Indian innings)
India Women were off to a steady start as South Africa Women elected to bowl in the fourth ODI. They lost Smriti Mandhana and Priya Punia early on, but Punam Raut and Mithali Raj did the repair-work. Raut went on to record her third ODI ton, while Mithali got dismissed for 45. However, Harmanpreet Kaur's quick-fire fifty (54) guided India to 266/4 (50 overs).
