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| Cricket legend Mithali announces retirement | | | AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, June 9: Mithali Raj, the 'Lady Tendulkar of Indian Women's Cricket', brought an end to her 23-year long international cricket career on Wednesday when she announced her retirement from all forms of cricket via a Twitter post. In a statement posted to her official Twitter account, she said: "I set out as a little girl on the journey to wear the India blues as representing your country is the highest honour. The journey was full of highs and some lows. Each event taught me something unique and the last 23 years have been the most fulfilling, challenging & enjoyable years of my life. Like all journeys, this one too must come to an end. Today is the day I retire from all forms of International Cricket. Each time I stepped on the field, I gave my very best with the intent to help India win. I will always cherish the opportunity given to me to represent the tricolour. I feel now is the perfect time to call curtains on my playing career as the team is in the capable hands of some very talented young players and the future of Indian Cricket is bright. I'd like to thank the BCCI & Shri Jay Shah Sir (Honorary Secretary, BCCI) for all the support I have received - first as a player and then as the Captain of the Indian Women's Cricket Team. It was an honour to have led the team for so many years. It definitely shaped me as a person & hopefully helped shape Indian Women's Cricket as well. This journey may have ended but another one beckons as I'd love to stay involved in the game I love and contribute to the growth of Women's Cricket in India and world over. Special mention to all my fans, thank you for all your love & support." The 39-year-old cricket icon made her international debut as a 16-year-old against Ireland on June 26, 1999, and scored a century in her first ODI match. She remained unbeaten on 114 and became the youngest cricketer (men and women combined) to score a hundred. And after 23 years, when she ended her playing career, she left as the leading run getter in the 50-over format of the game. The right-handed batter represented India in 232 ODI matches, which is the highest by any women's cricketer, and scored the most number of 7805 runs at an average of 50.68. Mithali's batting average of 50.68 is the fifth highest of all time. The premier batter also scored the highest number of 50+ scores in women's cricket (71-64 half centuries and 7 hundreds). The Jodhpur-born cricketer also featured in 38 matches for India in the World Cup and scored 1321 runs (2nd most in World Cup history). At the age of 21 years and 94 days, Mithali was made the Indian captain and has led the Women in Blue in a record number of 155 WODI matches. During her 18-year-long captaincy career, she won 89 matches as Indian skipper. She led India to the finals of the ICC Women's World Cup in 2005 and 2017, but on both occasions finished as the runners-up. Raj's last game in international cricket was against South Africa in Christchurch during the ICC Women's World Cup earlier this year and in that she scored 68 runs from 84 balls. Mithali, who holds the record of playing the most consecutive WODI matches (109) for a team, scored seven back-to-back fifties in 2017, which is a record in women's cricket till date. Apart from the record number of WODI matches, Mithali also played in 12 Tests and 89 T20I games and holds the record for scoring the most runs for Team India in T20I matches. She has 2364 runs to her name in the shortest format of the game. The veteran retired from the shortest format in September 2019 but continued to play in Test and ODI matches. Her last Test was against Australia last year, which ended in a draw. Overall, in 12 red-ball matches, she scored 699 runs at an average of 43.68, with the highest score of 214.
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