Mithali Raj: An enduring presence in women's cricket celebrates 20 years at the top

NICK FRIEND: Raj captained India against South Africa at the Reliance Cricket Ground in the heart of Vadodara, Gujarat. In doing so, she became the first woman whose ODI career has spanned 20 years

In a sport full of game-changers, there are few who have led the way quite like Mithali Raj. On Wednesday, she made history – more history, yet another slice for one of the great pioneers of women’s cricket.

She captained India against South Africa at the Reliance Cricket Ground in the heart of Vadodara, Gujarat. In doing so, she became the first woman whose ODI career has spanned 20 years.

Three men – Sanath Jayasuriya, Sachin Tendulkar and Javed Miandad – have accomplished that feat, but then the men’s game has witnessed 4,212 ODIs, while women’s ODI cricket, at 1,165 games old, remains embryonic by comparison.

And yet, Raj has experienced much of it first-hand; a journey that began in Milton Keynes of all places.

In the year that she made her debut against Ireland, Bill Clinton was the US president; Raj’s teammate and prodigy, Jemimah Rodrigues, was a year from birth; Lance Armstrong won his first Tour de France title.

^{Mithali Raj made 114* on her ODI debut in 1999}

Since then, he has won six more titles, retired, retracted his retirement, retired again, been found guilty of doping, had all his titles revoked and been the subject of several multi-million-dollar lawsuits.

It highlights the extraordinary longevity of an ageless cricketer. Of those alongside whom Raj made her bow on the international stage, the youngest is 36; the oldest is 57. India’s trailblazer, however, goes on and on. 203 ODI appearances is a world record. Fifty-nine scores of over 50 is a world record. Six thousand seven hundred and twenty career runs is a world record.

To look back to her debut – a one-off encounter against the Irish side during India’s tour of England in 1999 – is to return to a scene that hinted at an inevitability of what was to come.

Raj made an unbeaten 114 to introduce her 16-year-old self to the cricketing world, albeit at a time when coverage was sparse. The game was far from the increasingly professionalised endeavour it has become and continues to grow into.

Her second ODI – the first game of the subsequent series against England – pitted Raj against Charlotte Edwards. It was Edwards’ 15th 50-over game for England; she would go on to play 191 times in the format, hanging up her gloves in 2016, roundly recognised as the greatest England player in recent history.

She and Raj were contemporaries; still, though, this forerunner of the women’s game continues. She has retired from T20 cricket now, a sign of the times that her place was no longer secure and her presence no longer paramount.

Her very existence has inspired a generation, shining the light on a pathway for others to follow. “I think it’s just such a blessing to share the dressing room,” Jemimah Rodrigues told The Cricketer of the impact of Raj’s generation on those coming through to reap the benefits.

“There are many girls like me in India now,” she reflected. “Especially after the 2017 World Cup, it drastically changed everything. Even parents are supporting young girls in India to take up cricket as a career, which is very rare.

“The grounds where I practiced, I used to be the only girl there. Now they have started separate nets only for girls and, because of that, there are many girls coming up.”

That, to a very real degree, is the impact of Raj. In a country where the women’s game was not so much frowned upon as frequently ignored, she has inspired a nation of girls and young women. A women's IPL is not far away now.

As she strode out against South Africa, each footstep marked the completion of a second decade at the top of her sport. A serial record-breaker just ticking another one off her list.