Mithali Raj Becomes the First Woman Cricketer to Play 200 ODIs

Mithali Raj already holds the record for the most-capped women’s cricketer in the history of the game.

(Photo: AP)

Indian women's team ODI captain Mithali created history by becoming the first woman cricketer to play 200 One-Day Internationals.

Mithali reached the milestone during the third ODI against New Zealand in Hamilton on Friday, 1 February. Unfortunately, Mithali couldn’t make her 200th ODI memorable for her as she was dismissed by Leigh Kasperek for just 9 runs.

The veteran cricketer already holds the record for the most-capped women's cricketer in the history of the game. She had achieved the milestone when she played her 192 ODI of the career, going past Charlotte Edwards’ record of 191 appearances.

Mithali made her ODI debut in June 1999 against Ireland in Milton Keynes. She made her debut special with a maiden ton, as she scored 114* in India’s 161-run win.

She is also the leading run-scorer in ODIs with a total of 6622 runs to her name. She has a total of 7 hundreds and 52 fifties, which is again a record, to her name.

In terms of the most caps as captain of an international team, Mithali leads the list with 123 (including the third ODI against the Kiwis), ahead of former England skipper Charlotte Edwards (117).

Among the current crop of players, Mithali’s teammate Jhulan Goswami (174) and Jenny Gunn (143) are also on the list.