She wanted to be a dancer: 10 things to know about skipper Mithali Raj

The star of the Twenty20 series, Skipper Mithali Raj nailed the winning runs as Indian women’s cricket team defeated over three-time world championship record holder Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Before cricket, Mithali was crazy about classical dancing. She learnt Bharatnatyam and you would be surprised to hear that her dream was to make a career in dancing. Being cricketer was never her first choice. To handle a lazy kid, her parents introduced Mithali to cricket to be disciplined and active. Shall we say thank god they did?

Also Read: Historic win for Indian Women’s Cricket Team

Here's a look at some interesting aspects of who Mithali Raj is and what her growing up was like.

1. Mithali Dorai Raj was born in Jodhpur on December 3, 1982. Daughter of an Air Force officer, her interest to be a part of cricket started at the age of 10.

• Mithali has a very important players place in the Indian Women’s Cricket team with some great performances as captain and player both. She debuted in One-Day International (ODIs) in 1999 when 17-year-old woman ODI debutant fought against Ireland Women at Milton Keynes and scored a 114 runs

• She is till now only 1 of 5 women to score centuries on debut and the youngest centurion in women's cricket history.

• Mithali became the 1st Indian woman and the 2nd female cricketer in the world to cross 5000 ODI runs. That day Twitterati made her famous as ‘Lady Sachin’.

• Young Mithali at the age of 19 on August 14, 2002, broke Karen Rolton’s record of highest individual test score.

• In 2003, she recieved the Arjuna Award.

• Under her captaincy in the year of 2006, the Indian women’s cricket team bagged their first Test and Series win in England. In the same year, the Indian team again won the Asian Cup, for the second time in twelve months.

• She has been titled as a “dangerous cricketer” due to her bowling techniques and unexpected attacking spirits.

• In 2015, she was presented with India’s fourth-highest civilian award, the Padma Shri.

• She has played 153 ODIs, 10 Tests and 47 T20 internationals since making her debut in 1999.

Also Read: Indian Women’s Cricket team’s first victory against World champions Australia 

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