Indian skipper of the Women’s team Mithali Raj became the oldest Indian cricketer who scored fifty in the 2022 ICC Women’s World Cup. She achieved this feat in the last group match of the tournament against South Africa at Hagley Oval, Christchurch on March 27 (Sunday). Apart from that, she’s also the youngest Indian cricketer who scored a half-century in the 2000 Women’s World Cup against the same opponents. She represented India in 231 matches where she mustered a total of 7737 runs at an average of 50.37.
In her career, she has 63 half-centuries and seven tons attached to her name in the 50-over format. The right-handed batter represented India in 89 T20I and 12 Test matches where she made 2364 and 699 runs respectively.
It was Mithali Raj’s fifty that helped India reach 274/7 in 50 overs
Skipper Mithali Raj won the toss against South Africa and decided to bat first. Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana opened the innings where both of them had a solid partnership of 91 runs in 15 overs. Batter Shafali was more aggressive as she scored 53 off 46 balls by hitting eight fours. After she returned to the pavilion Yastika Bhatia also got out very quickly. At this point, India was at 96/2 in 16.3 overs.
Harmanpreet Kaur took her position and along with Mithali Raj, they had a partnership of 58 runs. She completed her 50 in the 37th over. After that, she added another 18 runs after which she got dismissed by Masabata Klaas. India now had a score of 274/4 in 50 overs. South African cricketer Laura Wolvaardt smashed 80 in 79 balls and Lara Goodall mustered 49 out of 69 balls. The player of the match
Mithali Raj was then joined by another senior batter Harmanpreet Kaur as the duo stitched a decent partnership of 58 runs. The skipper was at her best as she kept milking the balls for singles and doubles while hitting odd boundaries in between. The 39-year-old completed her fifty in the 37th over. The player of the match Mignon du Preez scored 52 not out of 63 balls and also had hit the winning shot.
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