Indian cricket legend Mithali Raj called time on her international cricket career, taking to social media on Wednesday to announce her retirement from all forms.
The 39-year-old last made an appearance in the Indian jersey when she captained the team during the 2022 ICC Women's ODI World Cup in New Zealand. India were playing South Africa in that match and lost by 3 wickets, and were eliminated from the tournament. She had already retired from T20Is in 2019 and is still India's highest run-getter in the format.
She made her debut for India in 1999 as a 16-year-old and went on to become one of the all-time greats in the game. She represented India in 12 Tests, 232 ODIs and 89 T20Is and was also the captain that led them to the finals of two World Cups.
Mithali wrote, "I feel now is the perfect time to call curtains on my playing career as the team is in the capable hands of some very talented young players and the future of Indian Cricket is bright."
"Each time I stepped on the field, I gave my very best with the intent to help India win. I will always cherish the opportunity given to me to represent the tricolour," she wrote. "It was an honour to have led the team for so many years. It definitely shaped me as a person & hopefully helped shape Indian Women's Cricket as well.
Mithali hinted that she would perhaps be open to coaching assignments or whatever role the Indian cricket board deemed suitable for a player of her calibre.
"This journey may have ended but another one beckons as I'd love to stay involved in the game I love and contribute to the growth of Women's Cricket in India and world over."
In ODI cricket, after starting off with a hundred on debut in 1999 against Ireland, she ends her career as the highest run-scorer in the world with a tally of 7,805 runs, 7 hundreds and 64 fifties. The last of her fifties came in her final outing for India, against South Africa in the World Cup in March when India were knocked out.
Interestingly, her debut century against Ireland made her the youngest centurion in women's cricket across all formats. She scored an unbeaten 114 at Mitlon Keynes.
She was also the first to score seven fifties in a row in women's ODIs, where her tally of 64 is the highest.
In Women's Tests, she is India's only double centurion, with her 214 against England in 2002 which also the second-highest individual score in the game.
Earlier this year, she became the first woman, and only the third cricketer, to be part of 6 ICC Cricket World Cups. As a captain also, she equalled Australian legend Belinda Clark’s tally as she led the Indian team at her fourth ICC Women’s World Cup. Clark’s tenure spanning from 1993 to 2005, according to ICC.
In March, Mithali crossed the 10,000-run mark in international cricket, across formats when India were playing against South Africa during the 3rd ODI in Lucknow. Previously, England’s Charlotte Edwards had been the first female cricketer to reach the milestone.
She is also the first Indian captain, male or female, to lead the country to two ODI World Cup finals. The winner's crown, however, remained elusive for Mithali as India lost a one-sided final in 2005 to Australia by 98 runs and then, 12 years later, in a much narrower contest to England by 9 runs.
Of course a career at the highest level is rarely without controversy, in Indian cricket that too. In Mithali’s career, the biggest of them saw her face off with India coach Ramesh Powar during the 2018 T20 World Cup in the Caribbean. Batting order movement kick started the row and then saw Mithali be dropped for the semi-final against England, a match India lost. In the aftermath, Powar didn’t get an extension and WV Raman took charge.
After the 2022 ODI World Cup, Mithali has started to take a step back. During the Senior Women's T20 Trophy, it was Sneh Rana who captained the Railways side that won the trophy, while the veteran was with the squad but didn't play, and adopted a mentoring role instead. In the Women’s T20 Challenge, Deepti Sharma replaced her as captain of the Velocity team.
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