Dubai: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday congratulated India legend Mithali Raj for an outstanding 23-year international career during which she broke several records.
The 39-year-old middle-order batter, who announced her retirement from all international cricket on Wednesday, led India in this year’s ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand. She had retired from T20Is in September 2019.
ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice said Raj is a hero for cricketers around the world and hoped she would continue to contribute to the game in the years to come.
“Mithali is one of the all-time greats of the game. Over the past 23 years, many young girls and boys have been inspired to take up the sport after watching her,” said Allardice in a ICC statement.
“Mithali has played a huge role in raising the profile of women’s cricket during a crucial period of its growth and I sincerely hope she will stay involved with the game in the coming years. On behalf of the ICC, I congratulate her for a fantastic career,” he added.
Raj, who led India to the finals of the ICC Women’s World Cups in 2005 and 2017, is the only woman, and only the third cricketer ever, to appear at six ICC (50-over) Cricket World Cups.
The 39-year-old is the most capped woman player in ODIs and holds the record for most runs in the format, having aggregated 7,805 runs in 232 matches with seven centuries. In Tests, she has scored 699 runs in 12 matches with one century while in T20Is, she has 2,364 runs from 89 matches with 17 half-centuries.
(IANS)
