Sometimes one person walks so far ahead that the rest of us need years to understand what they were really doing. Mithali Raj spent more than twenty years batting for India, but she was doing far more than scoring runs. She was literally holding everything together for the rest of the team while no one was paying attention. She remained quiet, steady and unyieldingly convinced that Indian women’s cricket would eventually receive the recognition that it deserved.
On her birthday, it feels right to look back and speak of what she really carried.
The Debut Prodigy: Scoring an Unbeaten Century at 16
It is strange to picture a 16-year-old walking out to bat for India and coming back with an unbeaten hundred, but that is how Mithali began. No fuss. No buildup. Just walked in on debut and struck 114 not out, like she already knew this path belonged to her.
Kids her age were worried about school subjects. She was busy becoming the youngest ever to hit a century in women’s cricket. Even today, when we think about teenage prodigies, her name quietly returns to the front.
Her early discipline came from a army-family routine. She trained like someone who had no fallback plan. Cricket was not a career then. It was hope. And she worked at it like she owed it everything.
Bharatanatyam and Batting: The Technical Genius of Mithali
Mithali has always batted as though she was moving to the rhythm of music that only she could hear. All of the years that She practiced Bharatanatyam enhanced her footwork and each time she moved to reach out to hit the ball through the covers, that rhythmic movement was evident.
Her game was not loud. It was clean and methodical. She cut, nudged, and placed the ball like she had a secret map of the field. And she became the one batter around whom the entire team would plan an innings. She was the “anchor” well before the term ever became popularized.
Mithali’s technique allowed her to achieve a Test score of 214 in 2002, a record that was unmatched for years. In the 2005 World Cup Semi-Final, Mithali once again carried India with an unbeaten 91 when no other Indian batter scored a fifty. She often called both innings equally close to her heart. Anyone who lived through that era knows why.
Mithali Raj Stats: 7,805 Runs and a Career Longer Than Sachin
When you look at Mithali’s statistics, they appear virtually unbelievable.
Mithali was extremely close to reaching 8000 ODI runs and finished with 7805, averaging over 50 throughout nearly two decades. Mithali remains the only woman to surpass 6000 ODI runs.
Mithali’s ODI career spanned for 22 years and 274 days. Yes, longer than Sachin Tendulkar’s ODI career. Think about that. Tendulkar is the name we all use when we talk about playing forever, but Mithali stayed even longer.
Across formats, her list of records looks like a long conversation with history.
She was among the youngest players ever to lead in Test cricket.
She still holds the highest score by anyone batting at her position in Tests.
At 19 years and 254 days, she became the youngest to hit a double hundred in women’s Tests.
And then in ODIs, she led India in 155 matches, the most by any captain in women’s cricket.
This is not a resume. This is a lifetime etched in scorebooks.
Bridging Two Eras: From Unreserved Train Seats to Central Contracts
Mithali played during a time when women’s cricket had very little funding and certainly had no fame. She travelled in trains without having reserved seats. She stayed in places that were tiring even for young players. Pitch conditions were so poor that sometimes you wondered how she still managed to bat with such grace.
But she kept going because she had no alternative. Her coach, the late Sampath Kumar, saw something rare in her. He pushed her hard, and she accepted it because she believed cricket could give her purpose.
She became the bridge between two eras.
One era played for passion, often without money.
The next era came with contracts, central deals, and a visible place on television.
Mithali stood right between them, bearing the weight so the next generation could have it lighter.
2017 World Cup: Turning Point for Women’s Cricket
For nearly twenty years, she was scoring runs quietly while India barely noticed. Then came 2017.
She took India to another ODI World Cup final, her second as captain. Suddenly the newspapers, the channels, the crowds realised what they had been sleeping on.
During that tournament she crossed Charlotte Edwards to become the highest ODI run scorer. She became the first woman to reach 6000 runs. She scored a century and three fifties. She carried India into the final stretch almost on her own willpower.
They lost that final, but countrywide respect arrived that day.
Weathering the Storm: The 2018 T20 World Cup Controversy
Mithali’s career in cricket wasn’t just about scoring runs. It was also about experiencing difficult times too.
In the 2018 T20 World Cup, Mithali was dropped from the semi-finals. A controversy broke out. The relationship between her and members of the management hit a painful point. She spoke openly about feeling unwanted.
Even in that moment, she showed restraint, which may seem small, but was typical Mithali. She never allowed the noise to break her calm surface.
By 2019, Mithali stepped away from the T20I format to allow herself to focus solely on the goal of leading India to victory in the ODI World Cup.
2025 World Cup Glory: A Full Circle Moment
When India won the 2025 ODI World Cup last month, there was a scene that still appears emotional to recall.
The players walked the trophy toward three women who bore the weight of the past: Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, and Anjum Chopra.
The audience watched as the recently crowned champions handed the trophy to these three women.
Mithali held the trophy as if she was finally closing a chapter she had left open for too long. Mithali smiled in a manner that we had never seen before. It was the smile of a woman who had waited for years for the circle to be completed.
Beyond the Numbers: An Unmatched Legacy
Mithali Raj did not require a World Cup to prove anything. Her story exists in the statistics that spanned decades, in the young players that she inspired, in every single little girl who finally believed that she could dream about playing cricket and not laughable.
She played long, stood tall, and carried a generation on her shoulders. Some careers shine bright.
Hers glowed slowly, deeply, and stayed.
And that glow will outlive all of us.
