“Queen of Cricket World” - Twitterati praises Mithali Raj as 38-year-old reclaims No.1 ODI ranking
India Women’s Test and ODI captain Mithali Raj on Tuesday reclaimed the No. 1 spot in the latest ICC Women’s ODI rankings. The 38-year-old jumped four places to occupy the top spot in the official ratings.
Although India Women lost the three-match ODI series 1-2 to England, Mithali Raj had a wonderful series, scoring half-centuries in all three matches. She hit 72 in the first one-dayer in Bristol, 59 in the second game in Taunton and a match-winning 75 not out in the final match in Worcester.
Tweeting their updated rankings, the ICC posted:
“@M_Raj03 is the new No.1. In the latest @MRFWorldwide ICC Women's ODI Player Rankings for batting, the India skipper climbs to the top of the table.”
Mithali Raj had previously reached the top spot in the ICC Women’s ODI rankings in February 2018. The first time she climbed to the top of the charts was back in April 2005.
The Indian captain started trending on social media after it became known that she had become the No. 1 in ODIs again. Twitterati lavished praise on her. Some called her the ‘queen’ of cricket, while a few others used terms like ‘Mighty Mithali’ to describe her feat. Here are a few Twitter reactions on Mithali Raj’s achievement:
I don’t seek validation from people: Mithali Raj
During her unbeaten 75 in the third ODI against England, Mithali Raj also became the leading run-scorer in women’s international cricket, going past Charlotte Edwards' tally of 10,273 runs.
Although she was in good form, the 38-year-old faced some criticism over her strike rate. Reacting to the same, following India Women’s win in the final ODI, Mithali Raj said:
“I do read that the criticism is about my strike rate, but as I have said earlier also, I don’t seek validation from people. I’ve played for a long time, and I know that I have a certain responsibility in the team. I don’t look to please people.”
“I’m here to play the role that is assigned to me by the team management. When you’re chasing a target, you pick your bowlers, you pick your length, you pick the areas. Because I’m in a good flow, I need to make the best use of myself in the middle, and the entire batting unit revolves around me,” Mithali Raj added.
During the ODI series, Mithali Raj also completed 22 years in international cricket, the longest by any woman cricketer. In overall international cricket (men’s and women’s), only Sachin Tendulkar has had a longer international career than Mithali Raj.