The semi-final against Australia and if the Indian women are fortunate, Sunday's final will decide her place in history as a captain, though she has long secured her position in the Elysium of women's cricket, says Haresh Pandya.
Riding on Mithali Raj's record century, India 'A' defeated their Australian counterparts by 28 runs to take a winning 2-0 lead in the three-match T20 series in Mumbai on Wednesday.
The 37-year-old cricketer, who retired from T20s last September, remains India's ODI captain and plans to carry on till the 2021 World Cup.
Paralympic gold-winners Avani Lekhara, Sumit Antil, Pramod Bhagat, Krishna Nagar, Manish Narwal were also given the Khel Ratna at a dazzling awards ceremony on Saturday.
After Mithali had spoken about 'moving on', it was Powar's turn to sing from the same hymn sheet.
India captain Mithali Raj's excellent show in the three-match series against England has helped her grab the No.1 position in the MRF Tyres ICC Women's ODI Player Rankings for the eighth time in her stellar 22-year international career.
Former India captain Shantha Rangaswamy said that Mithali Raj took the right decision by retiring from T20 Internationals as it will help her focus more on the 2021 ODI World Cup.
Indian captain Mithali Raj on Tuesday created a world record by becoming the first player to cross 6000 runs in the history of women's ODI during the ICC World Cup match against Australia in Bristol.
Mithali Raj insisted that she and head coach Ramesh Powar have 'moved on' from a bitter past
Playing eleven cannot be questioned, Indian women had a bad day, says Edulji
'30 days for the start of the women's World Cup in NZ ..wish the Indian team and the rest of the teams all the very best ... @ICC @BCCI' Ganguly captioned the video.
Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli joined the chorus of top Indian cricketers in congratulating Mithali Raj on becoming the highest run-getter in the history of women's ODIs.
Mithali reacted to Powar's report by posting a brief statement on her official Twitter page on Thursday.
Mithali made her ODI debut against England in Milton Keynes in January 1999 and on Friday became the first woman to complete in 200 matches in the 50-over format
Mithali Raj is predicting plenty of runs at Lord's where India take on hosts England in a mouth- watering Women's World Cup final in London.
In the bowlers' list, Jhulan Goswami at fifth position is the lone Indian in top-10, while Deepti Sharma holds an identical slot in the all-rounder's category.
For ICC Women's Player of the Decade, Ellyse Perry (Australia), Meg Lanning (Australia), Suzie Bates (New Zealand), Stafanie Taylor (West Indies), Mithali Raj (India), Sarah Taylor (England) have been nominated.
Indian women's cricket coach Ramesh Powar insisted that Mithali Raj's axing from the World T20 semi-final was based on strategy and not acrimony.
With the focus on youngsters ahead of next year's T20 World Cup, the selectors may not pick her for the upcoming T20I home series against South Africa.
'We need to see the bigger picture preparing for the World Cup.'
Raj, who originally hails from Tamil Nadu was criticised by a Twitter user saying that the skipper often speaks in English, Hindi and Telugu but does not use Tamil to converse with people.
Foreign players, led by Australian star player Alyssa Healy, questioned the timing of the exhibition games as it is clashing with the WBBL, the BCCI was also criticised for not going ahead with the women's tour of England in September.
Legendary Indian skipper Mithali Raj feels the COVID-19 forced break may have pushed back the growth of women's cricket by at least two years. Mithali, Indian women's ODI captain and the world's highest run-getter in 50-over cricket, also said that a full-fledged women's Indian Premier League is still at least three years away although a fourth team can be added for the Challenger series.
Indian opener Shafali Verma rewrote history books today, smashing the fastest double century in women's Test cricket.
Mithali Raj has held onto her second spot in the batting ODI rankings, while Smriti Mandhana has risen four slots to take the eighth spot.
It is learnt that Committee of Administrators could look into issues like alleged bias in team selection following Mithali Raj's controversial omission for the World T20 semi-final against England.
The spotlight among the batters was on Beth Mooney. She rocketed up eight places to break into the top ten, sitting at No. 8, just below compatriot Meg Lanning by nine rating points.
The Indian women's team begins its three-ODI series against England at home on Friday in the absence of star player Harmanpreet Kaur, who has been ruled out of the series due to an ankle injury.
Shafali Verma, the young Indian opener, stole the show on the opening day of the one-off women's Test against South Africa, smashing a record-breaking double century.
India will play three ODIs in New Zealand beginning January 24 as part of the ICC Women's Championship before playing three T20 Internationals.
India surpassed that mark when Richa Ghosh hammered a four in the first ball of the 109th over bowled by Annerie Dercksen.
Host of match-winners and Dhoni's expertise make India favourites, says Mithali Raj
India's captain Mithali Raj says youngsters like Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh have shown that they have the ability to compete at the highest level and the last few series have helped the team figure out its composition ahead of women's ODI World Cup next month.
The first five games of the ICC event have caused a lot of movement in the women's ODI player rankings with Australia skipper Meg Lanning climbing up two spots in the rankings for batters.
Mithali Raj played a captain's knock to guide India Women to a consolation four-wicket win over England
The Indian women's cricket team captain Mithali Raj today recalled her journey to the top and revealed that as an Indian player she had travelled unreserved in a train.
Veteran Mithali Raj's retirement from the T20 format paved the way for the induction of youngsters such as 15-year-old rookie Shafali Verma in the Indian women's team for the upcoming home T20 Internationals against South Africa.
India's One-day captain Mithali Raj and top batter Harmanpreet Kaur were placed 2nd and 10th in the ICC batswomen's rankings released after the World Cup qualifier that ended on Tuesday.
'Captains are asked to sit, so just do it. I have done it in Faisalabad. I didn't play an ODI game for 15 months when I was probably the best performer in one-day cricket. It happens in life. The best in the world are at times shown the door'
Indian women's ODI captain Mithali Raj said cricket has helped her deal with the adversities of life.
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