Captain of Indian Women’s cricket Mithali Raj has announced her retirement from the T20 international on Tuesday.
Mithali has last played a T20 game for India woman in Guwahati against England in March on England tour to India.
Mithali Raj was the first-ever captain since 2006 and smashed 2364 runs in 89 matches in the shortest format with an average of 37.52. She finished as the sixth-highest run-getter in T20Is, behind Suzie Bates, Stafanie Taylor, Charlotte Edwards, Meg Lanning, and Deandra Dottin, and is the only Indian to have scored more than 2000 runs.
Moreover, she stands 21st in the list who made most appearances in the T20 internationals. Raj, who has announced her retirement from the T20, has made herself available for the series against South Africa a week ago.
“After representing India in T20 internationals since 2006, I wish to retire from T20Is to focus my energies on readying myself for the 2021 One Day World Cup. It remains my dream to win a World Cup for my country and I want to give it my best. I thank the BCCI for their continuous support and wish the Indian T20 team good luck as they prepare for the home series against South Africa Women,” Mithali Raj said.
Earlier, during 2018 ICC Women’s World T20, Mithali Raj was under stress with the controversy that happened at the match. Further, she has been dropped for all the important semi-finals match against England by the team management mentioning of her bad attitude.
Then she had accused the coach Ramesh Powar and CoA member Diana Edulji of showing bias in a letter to BCCI. Later, Powar mentioned that Raj has accused him of threatening to retire from the game if asked to bat her down the order.
