Former women's team captain Mithali Raj hit a fluent 51 on Thursday to help India beat Ireland by 52 runs and enter the semi-finals of the 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 at Providence, Guayana.
It was her second fifty of the tournament in three matches, after missing out against New Zealand in the tournament opener, which India won by 34 runs. The veteran batter didn't get a chance to bat in that match.
But the veteran batter showed her class in the second match, against arch-rivals Pakistan. She scored a fluent 56 off 47 balls with the help of seven fours as India chased down a target of 134 runs with one over to spare. India won the match by seven wickets.
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Yesterday, Mithali played a matured innings, helping India post a fighting 145/6 despite the failures of young guns. During her 56-ball knock, she hit four fours and a six. But she was offered two lives during the course of the innings, and the Indian legend made sure to take full advantage of the chances given to her.
In the process, she overtook New Zealand’s Martin Guptill, who is the highest T20I run-scorer among men’s cricketers. Guptill has 2271 runs, while Raj has now 2283 runs. But the all-time leading scorer, for both men and women, is New Zealand legend Suzie Bates (2996 runs). In fact, the top three are all women. Bates is followed by Stafanie Taylor (2691) of the West Indies' and Charlotte Edwards (2605) of England.
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For the record, Raj's 2283 is 76 runs more than Rohit Sharma, who recently overtook Virat Kohli's (2012) as the leading Indian scorer in the format during the 3-0 win over the Windies. In the second match of the series, Rohit, who was leading India in the absence of rested Kohli, struck his fourth T20I ton.
In June, during the 2018 Women's Twenty20 Asia Cup, Raj became the first Indian player – man or woman – to breach the 2000-run mark in T20Is.
Raj made her T20I debut in August 2006 against England at Derby. She has played 85 matches, with a highest score of 97 not out against Malaysia in June. She has 17 fifties. The ongoing tournament is likely to be her final T20I tournament. India's best finish in the tournament is top-four finish, twice in 2009 and 2010. India have since failed to make an impact in the tournament, failing to escape the group stage in the last three editions.
