ICC Women’s World T20: Mithali Raj now has more T20I runs than any male cricketer

Mithali Raj has been a stalwart for the Indian women’s cricket team and the veteran has a number of records under her belt across all formats of the sport. The 35-year-old added two new accolades to her already illustrious career as she guided her team to victory against Ireland in the the ICC Women’s World T20 2018 match on Thursday.

Thanks to a brilliant half century, she surpassed New Zealand’s Martin Guptill, who is the highest T20I run-scorer among men’s cricketers. However, she is still the fourth-highest T20I scorer in the world, standing behind Suzie Bates (2961), Stafanie Taylor (2691) and Charlotte Edwards (2605).

READ: Mithali Raj now has more runs in T20Is than Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli

Raj struck an assured 51 as India posted a total of 145-6 that was always likely to be too strong for Ireland, and the tournament’s lowest-ranked team struggled to 93-8 in reply as Radha Yadav finished with three for 25.

READ: ICC Women’s World T20: India beat Ireland, qualify for semis for third time

With Mithali hitting her 17th T20I half century, she also managed to surpass Bates, Alyssa Healy and Pakistan’s Babar Azam to have the most 50-plus scores in a calendar year combining both men’s and women’s cricketers.

“I’m sure my knee will get better,” she said after the encounter. “Today the wicket was quite challenging. The pitch was soft. And playing slower bowlers was difficult, but the partnership with Smriti was crucial.”