OTD | 21 years since 19-year-old Mithali Raj scripted history with mammoth 214 in her third Test

Former India women’s cricket team captain Mithali Raj has established herself as one of the greatest women batters of all time. The Rajasthan-born cricketer showed signs of brilliance early in her career, as evidenced by her historic 214 in a Test match against England in 2002. The 19-year-old Raj announced her arrival in international cricket with a bang, setting the record for the highest individual score in women’s cricket.

Raj achieved this feat when India faced England in the second Test in Taunton. India won the toss and Anjum Chopra sent the hosts to bat first. Middle-order batter Laura Newton’s 98 and wicketkeeper batter Mandie Godliman’s half-century helped the hosts to post a first-inning score of 329. Neetu David and Jhulan Goswami, who took four and three wickets, respectively, shone with the ball for India.

In reply, India Women got off to a terrible start as they lost openers Sunetra Paranjpe and Mamatha Maben cheaply. Batting at No. 3, Chopra was solid at one end and was well supported by the 19-year-old, who is playing her third Test match, to steady the ship from the crisis. The Indian skipper fell after completing her fifty, but Raj continued her game and single-handedly swung the match in their favor.

Mithali Raj’s scintillating knock went in vain

The right-hander smashed 214 runs and had just 19 boundaries in the 407 balls she faced while troubling the English team. She was finally dismissed via LBW by pacer Isa Guha. Her heroics along with Chopra’s 52 and Goswami’s 62 put India in the driver’s seat with a massive first-innings score of 467. England declared their third innings at 198 for six.

However, Raj’s valiant effort did not pay off as the match ended in a draw as India did not get a chance to bat in the final innings. The 40-year-old’s 214 is now the second-highest individual score by a women cricketer in Tests. In 2004, Pakistan’s Kiran Baluch broke Raj’s record by slamming 242 runs. Raj, known as the ‘Queen Of Cricket’, is currently the mentor of the Gujarat Giants in the Women’s Premier League (WPL).