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India's veteran skipper Mithali Raj has once again proved her excellence with the bat as she struck a sensational half ton against New Zealand in the second ODI match at Queenstown Even Centre on Tuesday (February 15).
Mithali stood tall with an unbeaten 66 to guide India to their highest ODI score (270/6) against New Zealand.
The 39-year-old batter, who has always shown sheer consistency with the bat also demolished many records.
With her 61st ODI half century, she has now surpassed the likes of former India's men's cricket skippers MS Dhoni and Mohammad Azharuddin in terms of runs against New Zealand while captaining India. She has claimed a record for scoring most runs by any Indian captain against New Zealand as she has amassed a total of 739 runs. Meanwhile, Dhoni has been upstaged to second spot with 723 runs followed by Azharuddin with 678 runs.
She also claimed a record of scoring most fifties by Indian skippers against New Zealand in ODIs which is 7. Azharuddin and Dhoni has six half tons each.
If there was a competition for the most consistent batter in the world of women’s cricket, then there is seldom any doubt that the winner would have been none other than India’s ODI and Test captain Mithali Raj.
Coming in at number four, she put her head down and crafted an unbeaten 66 off 81 balls, including just the three boundaries, which indicates that she ran well between the wickets.
This was her second half-century in the series, having registered one in the first ODI on February 12. Raj’s innings of 66 helped India post a challenging score of 270/6 in 50 overs, which is team India’s highest total against New Zealand in women’s ODIs. India’s previous best against the White Ferns was 265-7 in 2017 at Derby.
Mithali Raj stitched a 108-run partnership with Richa Ghosh for the fourth wicket, which is the first ever hundred-run partnership by an Indian pair for fourth or lower wickets in women’s international cricket in New Zealand. This partnership of 108 runs is the joint highest fourth wicket partnership for India in women’s ODIs.
The 39-year old right handed batter also completed 7500 ODI runs, a feat achieved by nobody else in the history of women’s ODI cricket.
Out of the 7516 runs which she has, 5030 runs have come as a captain. She became the first captain to muster 5000+ runs as ODI captain in women’s cricket. Raj has been captaining India since 2004.
The prolific batter has been dominating women’s cricket for more than 22 years and out of these 22 years, she has averaged 50+ for 13 years.
Mithali-Richa record partnership
Mithali Raj and Richa Ghosh share the first century partnership in international cricket (men/women) where one player debuted before the other was born. Mithali debuted in 1999 while Richa was born in 2003.
