Mithali Raj sets a new Women’s World Cup record and surpasses Australia’s Belinda Clark in terms of leadership.
Mithali Raj made a remarkable captaincy debut against the West Indies in India’s third match of the 2022 Women’s World Cup campaign.
Mithali Raj, Team India’s captain, continues to smash records in Women’s World Cups. Mithali established another big World Cup milestone on Saturday when the side faced the West Indies in Hamilton. Mithali became the first women’s cricketer (and third overall) to feature in six World Cup editions. Mithali surpassed Australia’s Belinda Clark for the most tournament appearances as captain.
Clark, a former Australia star who captained the side in 101 women’s one-day internationals, captained the Aussies in 23 Women’s World Cup games over three tournaments (1997, 2000, and 2005). She won the award twice as the team’s captain. Mithali captained the competition for the 24th time on Saturday.
In her 23 Women’s World Cup appearances, Mithali has a winning percentage of 63.63. Clark’s record as Australia’s captain at the tournament is still very good. Her team won 21 of the 23 games they played with only one loss.
Earlier this week, India began their Women’s World Cup campaign with a convincing 107-run victory against rivals Pakistan. However, the side was defeated by New Zealand by 62 runs in their second match of the edition. Ramesh Powar, the team’s head coach, told the older players to take more of a role with the bat after the team had a defeat.
“I want veterans like Mithali (Raj), Smriti (Mandhana), and Jhulan (Goswami) to step up and win us games on their own since their involvement and efforts will rub off on the younger players,” Powar said.
