Bhubaneswar: Captain of the women’s ODI cricket team, Mithali Raj became the first Indian to score 10,000 international runs during the game against South Africa being played in Lucknow. Mithali Raj achieved this astounding feat during the course of her 36-run knock. This is the third ODI of the five-match series with the scores tied at 1-1. Mithali hit a boundary of medium pacer Anne Bosch to get to the milestone before getting out the very next ball. Incidentally Mithali is the second woman cricketer in the world to achieve this feat. This was her 310th international game.
Prior to this game, Mithali had 663 runs in 10 Tests with 214 as her highest score. In 211 ODIs she had scored she had scored 6,938 runs with an unbeaten 125 as her highest. She has also played in 89 T20 internationals and has scored 2,364 runs. However, she does not have a century in the shortest format of the game and 97 is her best score.
BCCI was quick to acknowledge Mithali’s feat. What a champion cricketer… Take a bow,” the BCCI tweeted.
It should be stated here that a biopic is being made on Mithali and is expected to hit the screens sometime next year. Titled Shabaash Mithu, It was scheduled for release in 2021 itself, but shooting got postponed due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Taapsee Pannu will don the hat of Mithali and the former has been taking cricket lessons on a regular basis so that she can portray the role perfectly. If there is one Indian woman cricketer who deserves a biopic it has to be Mithali. In fact she and fast bowler Jhulan Goswami has been the flag-bearers of women’s cricket in India for a long time now.