Captain Mithali Raj has been a huge servant of Indian cricket. The most capped woman cricketer in history, Raj, 38, on Saturday achieved a huge batting feat as she became the leading run-scorer across format in international cricket, going past former England's batter Charlotte Edwards. Raj and Edwards are the only two players to breach the 10000-run mark in women's international cricketers and the India captain climbed the peak by overtaking Edwards' tally of 10,273 runs.
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To celebrate the occasion, the BCCI on Sunday put on a special tweet, highlighting Raj's outstanding achievement. With Mithali surpassing Edwards on Saturday, the record for the leading international run-scorer in both men's and women's cricket belong to cricketers from India with Raj joining Sachin Tendulkar.
Raj finished on 75 not out, helping India pull off a thrilling win and preventing a 0-3 sweep. Adjudged Player of the match, Raj said on Sky Sports: "I never gave up in the middle. It's being in the middle because you can't win the match sitting out in the dugout. I wanted to win the game for the team. I just needed to get the partnership to take it to the last.
{{/usCountry}}Raj finished on 75 not out, helping India pull off a thrilling win and preventing a 0-3 sweep. Adjudged Player of the match, Raj said on Sky Sports: "I never gave up in the middle. It's being in the middle because you can't win the match sitting out in the dugout. I wanted to win the game for the team. I just needed to get the partnership to take it to the last.
{{/usCountry}}"That's something that kept me going through the innings. I knew in the middle overs I could manage the game. When you have young players in the side, you need to guide them along, that's a responsibility."
Four years ago, Raj had gone past Edwards to emerge as the highest run-getter in women ODIs. As captain, Raj has scored 6015 runs in 179 games, next only to Edwards again, who has 6728 runs. The half-century on Sunday was the 87th instance that she has scored in excess of 50 runs. Her tally of 2924 runs is the most by any woman cricketer against a particular team in ODIs.