Indian woman Test and ODI player Mithali Dorai Raj was born on 3 December 1982 in Jodhpur.
Born to Tamilian parents, she shifted to Hyderabad where she attended Keyes High School for Girls and Kasturba Gandhi Junior College.
Mithali began playing cricket at the age of 10 at school. In 1999, she made her ODI debut against Ireland and scored an unbeaten 114. Mithali played her maiden Test in the 2001–02 season against South Africa at Lucknow. She recorded the highest ever individual score by a female batsman in Test cricket in August 2002 by scoring an unbeaten 209 against England at County Ground, Taunton. After this knock, there was no looking back for Mithali.
She made her T20I debut against England Women in August 2006. The 37-year-old has, however, announced her retirement from the shortest format in March 2019. She became the first-ever female player in world cricket to play for two decades in ODI cricket in October 2019.
When the Mithali-led Indian team made it to the final of the 2017 Women’s Cricket World Cup, Indian women’s cricket finally got its due recognition, with cricket fans, politicians and celebrities praising the entire team’s performance. They lost to England by nine runs and missed lifting the World Cup.
She was nicknamed ‘Lady Tendulkar of Indian Women’s cricket’ after she became the highest run-scorer for India in Tests, ODIs, and T20s.
Mithali was named as one of the players in the ICC Women’s ODI Team of the Year in December 2017. She also made it to the BBC 100 Women list of the year 2017. She also is a recipient of Arjuna and Padma Shri Awards.
She hopes to be part of the World Cup-winning Indian team in 2021. Apart from being a cricketer, Mithali is also an accomplished Bharat Natyam dancer.
Meanwhile, Taapsee Pannu will essay the role of Mithali Raj in the cricketer’s biopic, entitled Shabaash Mithu. The film will be directed by Rahul Dholakia and produced by Viacom18 Studios.
