Mithali Raj, the inspirational Indian women cricket team’s captain, has been named in BBC’s 100 most inspirational women list of 2017 which includes eminent personalities across all professions including sports, business, engineering and more.
The English news outlet started publishing the list four years ago, revealing their pick for 100 most influential women in all spheres of modern life. The list has been inspired by the BBC 100 Women Challenge which is a unique way of celebrating women achievement across the world. The list is prepared by four teams of women who are tasked with finding solutions to everyday problems which have affected women’s lives in a bad way across the world.
Team Read, one of the four teams, will visit Delhi for a four-day trip next month to look at female illiteracy. Several other places are hosting the challenge, including London, Nairobi and Rio, which will focus on global issues like sexism in sports, safety on public transport and other issues which have hindered the progress of women. So far, only 60 women have been picked while the remaining 40 places will be further filled up in the coming days.
Meanwhile, apart from Mithali, some other Indian women have also made it to the list which was published on Wednesday (September 27). Ira Trivedi, writer, yoga teacher and activist and Aditi Avasthi, founder and CEO at Embibe which is an education platform, are on the list.
Recently, Mithali also adorned the front cover of the fashion magazine Vogue. The 33-year old, who has been serving the nation for the last 18 years, has become the toast of this cricket-obsessed nation after guiding the Women in Blue to the final of this year’s World Cup. She had also led the team to the final of World Cup in 2005 which was Indian women team’s maiden final appearance.
The first women cricketer to surpass the 6,000-run mark in ODI cricket, Mithali is currently the leading run-scorer in the 50-over format, having scored 6190 runs at an average of 51.58.