Cricket legend Mithali Raj announces retirement from all forms of the game

Mithali Raj has scored 7805 runs in 232 ODIs with seven centuries and 64 fifties to her name

India women’s cricket team’s ODI and Test captain Mithali Raj, who led the team in the recently concluded Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 in New Zealand, announced her retirement from all forms of the game on Wednesday, June 08, 2022. 

Announcing the decision through her official Twitter handle, Raj uploaded a letter with the caption, “Thank you for all your love & support over the years! I look forward to my 2nd innings with your blessing and support.

Raj, who debuted for the Indian women team at the age of 16 in 1999, went on to play a pivotal role in taking women’s cricket in India to greater heights. Raj became the first and is the only woman cricketer to have aggregated more than 10,000 international runs in over 350 matches across all three formats. 

At the time of her retirement, Mithali has the most runs in Women’s ODI for a batter and has also played most matches. The 39-year-old has scored 7805 runs in 232 ODIs with seven centuries and 64 fifties to her name. In 12 Tests, she scored 699 runs at an average of 43.68 while in 89 T20Is, she scored 2364 runs with 17 fifties to her credit. 

In the retirement letter that she uploaded on her social media accounts, Raj has thanked BCCI Honorary Secretary Jay Shah and gave a special mention to her fans, saying that wearing the blue was always her dream and to have lived that dream for 23 years was enjoyable and challenging at the same time. 

Raj ended her letter by saying that she will be starting her second innings details for which are yet to be confirmed. Mithali hinted that she would perhaps be open to coaching assignments or whatever role the Indian cricket board deemed suitable for a player of her calibre.

"It was an honour to have led the team for so many years. It definitely shaped me as a person and hopefully helped shape Indian women's cricket as well. This journey may have ended but another one beckons as I'd love to stay involved in the game I love and contribute to the growth of women's Cricket in India and world over," she said. 

She had retired from the T20 format in 2019 and her decision to stop playing all formats was expected after India's underwhelming ODI World Cup campaign in March. 

Mithali played in as many as six ODI World Cups and also holds the record of scoring seven half-centuries in a row. She is the only Indian captain - male or female - to have led India in two World Cup finals (2005 and 2017). The team's performance in 2017 had given a huge fillip to the women's game.

However, a fairy tale ending eluded her five years later in New Zealand, where India made an early exit from the competition after an inconsistent campaign.