On this day- 26 June 1999- Mithali Raj(and five more cricketers) made her(their) ODI debut.
It was India’s first match since their 1997 World Cup semifinal exit. India took on Ireland right before their series with England.
The match witnessed a few debutants-
India- Mithali Raj, Reshma Gandhi, Rupanjali Shastri, Hemlata Kala
Ireland-Lara Molins, Isobel Joyce.
Batting first, India had Mithali Raj and Reshma Gandhi opening the innings. After a slow start, the duo went on to make 258 runs for the first wicket which is still the most involving two debutants in women’s cricket.
Mithali Raj scored 114* whereas, Reshma Gandhi made 104*. The duo became the first and second Indian cricketers to score a ton on a debut.
In return, Purnima Rau’s 4/33 and Rupanjali Shastri’s 2/9 helped India to beat Ireland by 161 runs as the latter managed only 97/9 in their fifty overs.
READ: https://penbugs.com/20-years-of-mithali-raj/
Despite being full of talent, Reshma Gandhi played only two ODIs for India and remained in the shadows of Anju Jain who was the team’s first-choice keeper. In fact, she was unbeaten in both the ODIs she played (104, 18).
We need a separate article to talk about the records that Mithali Raj went on to create. Here is a fun fact- She almost made it to the 1997 World Cup. She was one of the probable. She was just 14 at that time.
Rupanjali Shastri went on to play 13 international matches for India, including a Test match.
Hemlata Kala was one of the very few players to represent India in all three formats. She played 86 matches for India.
For Ireland-
Lara Molins represented the country in 7 ODIs.
Isobel Joyce, one of the best cricketers from Ireland, played in all three formats of the game, represented the team in 135 matches.
