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.
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
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.
'We need to see the bigger picture preparing for the World Cup.'
From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, the country hailed the Indian team's title triumph in the U-19 Women's T20 World Cup.
Mithali Raj insisted that she and head coach Ramesh Powar have 'moved on' from a bitter past
Star Indian pistol shooter Manu Bhaker was named the BBC Indian Sportswoman of the Year, following her outstanding performance at the Paris Olympics.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
'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.
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.
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.
India will play three ODIs in New Zealand beginning January 24 as part of the ICC Women's Championship before playing three T20 Internationals.
Host of match-winners and Dhoni's expertise make India favourites, says Mithali Raj
The Men in Blue claimed the prestigious T20 WC trophy for the second time, defeating South Africa by seven runs in Barbados on Saturday.
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.
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.
Diwali festivities with Bollywood stars and their little ones continue in full swing.
Mithali Raj trained in classical dance for eight years until she decided one day it was time to follow her heart and exhibit footwork of another kind.
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.
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.
'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'
"I am extremely happy on this association with Viacom18 Motion Pictures. Hoping that this movie inspires more people, especially young girls to take up sports as a career," a statement from the cricketer read.
Indian women's ODI captain Mithali Raj said cricket has helped her deal with the adversities of life.
As soon as she scored 34 runs, the Indian skipper became the leading run-getter in One-Day Internationals, going past England player Charlotte Edwards's record of 5992 ODI runs.
Indian women's ODI captain Mithali Raj stressed on the need to bring focus back on cricket after hogging the limelight for the wrong reasons following a controversial ending to their World T20 campaign.
'Whatever we decided, we decided for the team. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, no regrets. I'm proud of the way my girls played through the tournament'
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 captain Mithali Raj came out in support of starting a women's version of the cash-rich Indian Premier League after having spoken against it earlier.
Skipper Mithali Raj led from the front with an 89-run knock to save the Indian women's cricket team from a whitewash by guiding it to a comfortable five-wicket in the third and final ODI against Australia in Hobart on Sunday. The Indians, having already surrendered the series by losing the first two matches, managed to end the tour on a positive note with a consolation victory. Electing to bat after winning the toss, the Australian team lost a couple of early wickets before half-centuries by Elyse Perry (50) and Alex Blackwell (60) helped the team post 231/7 in their 50 overs. Blackwell's 60 from 64 balls was noteworthy given that Australia's strong batting line-up struggled to score freely in the face of a disciplined bowling display from India.
Gongadi Trisha emerged the player of the ICC women's under-19 T20 World Cup, scoring 309 runs, including a hundred, at an average of 77.25. She also took seven wickets in the tournament with her handy leg spin.
Mithali was left out of the team despite being fit and Kaur had gone on to justify the call even after the humiliating eight-wicket loss on Friday. Both the senior players along with manager Trupti Bhattacharya met BCCI CEO Rahul Johri and GM (Cricket Operations) Saba Karim.
Mithali Raj rued the missed opportunity to not only complete a 3-0 series whitewash against a quality side like England, but also lose out on crucial two points in the ICC Women's Championship.
Sania Mirza, Mithali Raj and Pullela Gopichand, on Wednesday, sent out a strong message on encouraging women players and developing essential infrastructure to promote sports in the country
Mithali Raj decided to quit T20 Internationals after a career spanning 89 matches
Mithali Raj held on to the top spot in the batting list, while Jhulan Goswami was the best-placed Indian in the bowling chart after climbing a spot to third in the latest ICC ODI rankings for women cricketers.
