On this day, in 2002, former Indian skipper Mithali Raj recorded the then-highest score in women’s test cricket.
Many times in her career Mithali made herself and the country proud with her performances, whether her unbeaten 114 against Ireland on her debut during the ODI match at Milton Keynes in 1999 to claim the honor of scoring her highest runs (10,868) in her international career. She has established herself as the greatest Indian women’s cricketer of all time.
Mithali Raj made her international debut at the young age of 16, and three years later, in Lucknow, she played her first Test match against England.
The right-handed batter smashed her highest Test score during India’s Tour of England in 2002. Raj shone with the bat and scored 214 off 598.
It was the second test of India’s tour of England in 2002, and the English side put up a good total of 329 while batting first.
India made a dry start as they lost two wickets early, but then came the nineteen-year-old Mithali Raj on crease and the rest is history.
The young Mithali not just soaked all the pressure but also recorded the then best highest individual score in test cricket by registering 214 runs in an innings. It was the first-ever double century hit by an Indian women in the history of cricket. She during her 598 minutes on crease, which is also a record as the most time spent by any women cricket on crease, smashed 19 fours.
With the help of Mithali’s blistering 214 India were able to put 467 runs on board. The match, however, ended in a draw. But, the knock of Mithali opened the door for her impressive journey of self-belief in cricket.
The former skipper represented India in all formats of the game as she was featured in 12 Test and 232 ODI and 89 T20I matches.
Mithali amassed 10,868 runs in 333 international cricket games during the course of an almost 23-year career. During that time, she had eight hundreds and 85 fifty-sixes.
Kiran Baluch of Pakistan broke Mithali’s record in 2004 with a score of 242 runs, making Mithali’s record of 214 runs the second-highest performance ever by a woman cricketer in Women’s Test Cricket.
