Mithali Raj’s story of hard work and success is an inspiration to not only women but also men cricketers: Narendra Modi

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has praised Indian women’s ODI captain Mithali Raj for her recent achievements during his monthly radio program. Raj, who made her debut in 1999, became the second women’s cricketer to reach 10,000 runs in international cricket. She also became the first player to reach 7,000 ODI runs in women’s cricket. 

The PM was speaking for his monthly radio program where he was addressing the Indian public and was talking about the developments in the country. He took the opportunity to congratulate Mithali and also talk about her achievements. Modi termed her contribution to Indian women’s cricket as “brilliant”. 

“Indian cricket team’s Mithali Raj recently became the first Indian woman cricketer to complete 10,000 runs in international cricket. Many congratulations to her on this achievement. She is also the first woman cricketer to score 7,000 runs in ODIs. Her contribution to women’s cricket is brilliant,” PM Modi said during the 75th episode of ‘Mann Ki Baat.’ 

Her story of hard work and success is an inspiration to not only women but also men cricketers: Narendra Modi on Mithali Raj

Raj achieved the two feats during the ODI series against South Africa women that was held in Lucknow. The only other women’s cricketer to have scored 10,000 international runs is former England cricketer Charlotte Edwards. Mithali has scored 663 runs in 10 Test matches with the best score of 214, while she has 7098 and 2364 runs from 214 ODIs and 89 T20Is Internationals respectively. 

“She has inspired many through her two-decade-long career. Her story of hard work and success is an inspiration to not only women but also men cricketers,” PM Modi added. Raj first reached 10,000 runs in a match on March 12 while she got to 7,000 ODI runs in another match two days later. She doesn’t play in the shortest format, having retired from T20Is. 

During the same conversation, the Prime Minister also talked about the achievements of PV Sindhu and Indian shooters who have been performing quite well in the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun. India is right now leading the medal tally with 28 medals, which includes 13 gold medals. 

“It is interesting that in the month of March when we celebrate women’s day, many women athletes won medals and created records. In the ISSF World Cup, being held in New Delhi, India is at the top of the medals tally. It was made possible by excellent performances by Indian men and women shooters. Also, PV Sindhu won a silver medal in the BWF Swiss Open Super 300 Tournament,” Modi said.