OTD | One of all-time greatest women’s cricketer, Mithali Raj made her ODI debut 24 years ago

 On this day, June 26, 1999, India’s greatest female batter, Mithali Raj, made her ODI debut against Ireland in Milton Keynes. During the inaugural face-off against Ireland in 1999, Mithali produced a spectacular breakthrough by hammering a scorching hundred. As the Women in Blue were put into the bat first, Reshma Gandhi and Mithali showed up to bat first against the Ireland side.

On her debut, India struck 258/0 in their allocated 50 overs, owing in substantial part to Mithali, who not only played alone for a magnificent knock of 114 runs but also partnered for over 200 runs with Gandhi. Later, India trounced Ireland by 161 runs in response by restricting them to an aggregate of 97 for 9. The stylish right-handed batter was appointed as captain of the Indian women’s cricket team in 2005. She has played for India in 89 T20Is, 209 ODIs, and 10 Tests so far, accumulating 9,951 runs overall. India has played 132 ODIs under her captaincy and emerged victorious in 82 of them.

An excellent ODI career for Mithali Raj

In her remarkable international tenure lasting more than two decades, India’s finest female batter, Mithali Raj, has achieved an array of noteworthy milestones. The one major distinction that the former captain lacks is the title of World Cup champion. She is additionally the player with the highest score in the tournament and the only Indian captain, male or female, who has led the team to two 50-over World Cup finals.

The former Team India captain became the first woman to accomplish the feat of 6,000 runs in One-Day internationals as well as the highest-scoring player in the game throughout the 2017 ODI World Cup, topping former England captain Charlotte Edwards. She had scored 409 runs in that contest and was next to England’s opening batter, Tammy Beaumont.

She became the first female cricketer to be honoured with the Wisden India Cricketer of the Year title in April 2015. Notwithstanding having won the Arjuna Award and the Padma Shri, on top of other exceptional distinctions, she was unable to win any major trophy in her captaincy career. Besides this, the Indian batting legend declared her retirement from all international cricket games on June 8, 2022.