Mithali Raj becomes first woman cricketer to score 7,000 ODI runs

Indian captain Mithali Raj added another feather to her illustrious career as she became the first female player to amass 7,000 ODI runs. The Indian captain reached the 7,000-run feat in 213 matches, which was the fourth ODI of the ongoing 5-match series against South Africa. During the 2nd ODI against the Proteas, Mithali Raj surpassed England's Charlotte Edwards to become the most capped women player in international cricket.

The 38-year-old has so far featured in 10 Tests, 213 ODIs, and 89 T20Is, having scored 663 Test runs at an average of 51.00, 7019 ODI runs at 50.49, and 2364 T20I runs at 37.52. Mithali Raj has struck 75 half-centuries and eight tons in a career expanding over 20 years. Despite retiring from the shortest format of the game a couple of years ago, she is still the highest run-scorer for India in T20Is.

Mithali Raj is the first Indian cricketer to score 10,000 international runs

Apart from her achievements in the ODIs, Mithali has also accumulated 663 runs from 10 Tests with the highest score of 214 at an average of 51. In T20Is, Mithali averages an impressive 37.52, having scored 2364 runs from 89 games. Mithali is the second cricketer after Charlotte Edwards in respect to overall leading run-scorers in international cricket. Edwards, the former England captain, has amassed 10207 runs from 309 matches with 67 half-centuries and 13 hundred. Mithali, who so far has 75 half-centuries and eight tons, is likely to overtake Edwards in the near future.

In the fourth ODI match against South Africa, the visitors won the toss and asked India to bat first. Team India decided to drop Jemimah Rodrigues after three single-digit scores. This gave an opportunity to opener Priya Punia to feature in the in playing XI. Indian pacer Jhulan Goswami was also rested due to a hand injury, paving the way for left-arm spinner Radha Yadav. 

On the other end, South Africa kept faith in the same playing XI that took them 2-1 up in the series. Meanwhile, Punam Raut and Harmanpreet Kaur played some splendid knocks of 104 and 54, respectively. Team India managed to score 266/4 in fifty overs against South Africa in the fourth ODI match.

READ MORE Cricket articles here!