Wishes Pour In For Mithali Raj As She Gets To 10,000 Run Mark

Known as the "Sachin Tendulkar of Indian women's cricket" for the longevity of her career, Mithali Raj became only the second woman player in the world and the first from India to get to 10,000 in

Raj had made a century in that ODI debut in Milton Keynes vs Ireland, scoring 114 while opening partner and fellow debutant Reshma Gandhi made 104 as India won by 161 runs.

The two set a few records in the course of that partnership.

"Mithali and I were drafted into the playing XI after the regular players failed in the previous matches. So they thought why not try the newcomers. We did well in the opportunity given to us," recalled Gandhi to IANS. Her unbeaten opening partnership of 258 with Raj was a world record then.

"With age, your reflexes slow down. But the great thing with Mithali is that she is technically sound and still has tremendous amounts of patience," added Gandhi who is from Ahmednagar but is now settled in Delhi.

Raj has so far scored 6,974 runs in ODI cricket at an average of 50.53 with 2,364 runs in T20Is at 37.52 and 663 runs in Test cricket at 51.00.

She has also scored a whopping 75 half-centuries and eight centuries.

"To be frank. I couldn't have imagined (someone would make 10,000 international runs in women's cricket). In our days, we hardly played that much cricket," said former India women's team captain Diana Edulji, who brought Raj into Indian Railways in Secunderabad. Edulji got her a job in Railways with relaxation, even though Raj hadn't yet turned 18.

"I knew her calibre, when she was a youngster. Knew she had potential to go big. She played a number of years under me, and I am happy, that one of the Indians is on top along with Charlotte Edwards (the only other to have 10,000 international runs)," added Edulji, whose international career lasted from 1976 till 1993.