Mithali Raj 2nd woman to score 10K runs in international cricket

New Delhi: Mithali Raj has become the first Indian batter, and only the second overall, to score 10,000 runs in women's international cricket. Raj went past the mark during her innings of 36 in the third ODI against South Africa on Friday, getting there with a flicked boundary off the bowling of Anne Bosch.

Raj was dismissed off the next ball, which means she will have to wait a little longer to reach another major milestone - she is now 26 runs away from becoming the first batter to 7000 runs in women's ODIs. England's Charlotte Edwards, who ended her career with 5992 ODI runs, is a distant second on that list. Charlotte Edwards, Mithali Raj, Suzie Bates, Stafanie Taylor and Meg Lanning are the top five run-getters in women's cricket.

Edwards, incidentally, is the only other woman to have scored 10,000 international runs. She made 10,273 runs overall, in a career that stretched from 1996 to 2016. Raj has enjoyed an even longer career. She made her India debut back in June 1999, in an ODI in Lucknow against England, and has so far played 10 Tests, 212 ODIs and 89 T20Is. She now has 663 Test runs at an average of 51.00, 6974 ODI runs at 50.53, and 2364 T20I runs at 37.52. "When you play for so long, you obviously go through different milestones. And this is just one of them," Raj said after the match. 

"I think the key for me has always been consistency. I've always believed in scoring runs each time I walk out to bat - whether it's in domestic or internationals, it never mattered. "As long as I get an opportunity to bat, it has to be counted, and that has given me a lot of experience and exposure to work on my game over the years, with the changing standards of women's cricket and to stay relevant on the international circuit."