Women's IPL 2020: Mithali Raj IPL team, T20 stats and records

Mithali Raj is arguably one of the greatest players in the history of women's cricket. One of the finest batters to have ever donned the Indian jersey, she has also been instrumental in inspiring millions of young girls to take up this sport.

In a career spanning over two decades, Mithali Raj has been at the forefront of the Indian batting unit and has single-handedly shouldered the responsibility of scoring the bulk of runs for the team.

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International career

Mithali Raj is one of the iconic players in the women's circuit (Image credit - BCCI)

Mithali Raj made her debut in the shortest format of the game against England on 5th August 2006 and helped her team win by scoring 28 runs off 37 balls.

In her 13 year-long T20 international career, the right-handed batswoman has played 89 matches, scoring 2364 runs at an average of 37.5 with 17 half-centuries.

Mithali Raj recorded her highest score of an unbeaten 97 runs against the home team, Malaysia, in the inaugural match of the Asia Cup held in Kuala Lumpur in 2018. Her impetus with the bat helped the Indian eves register a massive 142-run win in the encounter.

She was at the helm of affairs for the Indian team in 32 international games before handing over the baton to Harmanpreet Kaur.

Her contribution to Indian cricket, especially in this format of the game, is second to none as she was the first Indian player to reach 2000 runs. However, with the game developing ever so quickly, coupled with the emergence of young and exciting talent, the past couple of seasons have turned out to be extremely difficult for the veteran player.

In September 2019, Mithali Raj announced her retirement from international cricket in this format of the game just before the series against South Africa.

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IPL stats

Mithali Raj was appointed as the captain of Velocity in 2019 (Image credit - IPL)

Despite retiring from international cricket, Mithali Raj continues to play an integral part in the Women's T20 Challenge. She was a part of the Supernovas in the inaugural edition of the tournament held in Mumbai in 2018.

Chasing a target on 130 runs, Mithali Raj opened the batting along with Danielle Wyatt and laid a solid foundation by stitching 47 runs for the first wicket. Her 22 runs off 17 balls, combined with contributions from other players, helped the team win by three wickets.

With the growing popularity of the women's game and a pool of domestic talent available, the board introduced a third team, Velocity, with Mithali Raj as the captain in 2019. She had a relatively disappointing season with the bat, scoring 69 runs in three matches.

However, the lack of runs did not affect her captaincy as she continued to guide the exciting young talent in their bid to play for the nation.