Farewell, Mithali Raj: A cricketing career that went beyond just incredible numbers

Eight thousand three hundred and eighty-three days since making her debut as a 16-year-old, India’s Mithali Raj announced her retirement from international cricket on Wednesday. “Like all journeys, this one too must come to an end. Today is the day I retire from all forms of International Cricket,” she wrote. And just like that the journey that started on June 26, 1999, in Milton Keynes – with a century against Ireland on debut – came to a close with a social media post on June 8, 2022.

Between those 23 years, the records Mithali Raj broke, and created, are numerous. Very few athletes get to a point in their career where every moment they spend on field is a record that someone else has to break. Just like her mate and fellow traveller on this journey Jhulan Goswami, Mithali too has been doing that for the last five years in One-Day Internationals as every run she scored past Charlotte Edwards’ 5992 was a record of its own. She took it a notch higher in 2021 to take over from the English legend once again, this time at the top of international cricket charts. She bettered Edwards’ tally of 10,273 international runs and now finishes her career with 10,868 runs.

Ten thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight runs, scored over a career that spanned nearly 23 years.

But before we delve deeper on her impact, let’s quickly take a look at just a few incredible numbers from Mithali’s international career.