Cricket gets bigger every day as a sport. In addition to the test nations, cricket is regularly followed by many other countries. There was a time when men’s cricket was the only type of cricket, but now cricket for women is also popular among cricket lovers around the world.
Apart from one or two, in most of the test countries, women’s cricket also attracts people’s attention, attracts sponsors, and women’s cricketers are obviously good at it.
England and Australia played the first international women’s cricket match in 1934. Now more than 50 countries play women’s cricket. Ten of them have the test status.
In this article we will discuss five cricket players who are arguably the most popular cricketers in the world.
Sana Mir
Sana Mir is a Pakistani women cricket player who plays as a bowler, but she is also useful to the bat. The 33-year-old is one of the most popular cricket players in the world.
She has led the Pakistani women’s cricket team in 36 ODIs and won 17 of them. Sana’s career and her success played an important role in cricket playing for many girls in Pakistan.
Born in Abbottabad, Mir was the first Pakistani women’s cricket player to reach number one spot in the ICC ODI Bowler Ranking. She has also led Pakistan in Asia in two gold medals.
She started playing for her country in 2005 and continued her studies with the country’s international cricket mission. Sana has a BS in Statistics and Economics. She has proved that higher education is not impossible for an international cricketer.
The cunning all-rounder has played 112 ODIs and 97 T20Is for her nation, scoring 1558 and 794 runs, combined with 136 and 81 wicks respectively.
Sarah Taylor
Sarah Taylor is an English cricketer. The 29-year-old is famous for her fearless bat-playing. Along with the beating in the middle, she holds doors for England.
Sarah Taylor is the first women’s cricket player to play in a boys’ team in an Australian cricket in 2015. She has been waiting for Northern Adicts against Port Adelaide at Salisbury Oval in South Australia. The move to include a women’s cricketer in a boys’ team had triggered criticism at the time, but the woman behind the sticks only knew how to stay focused.
Sarah has won three awards for the ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year (2012, 2013, 2018) and ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year 2014 award.
The London-born batter has played 9 tests, 118 ODIs and 89 T20Is for England, scoring 295, 3945 and 2175 runs, respectively. In addition, she claimed to receive 122 catches in all formats along with 100 stumps in her name.
Mithali Raj
Mithali Raj is an Indian cricketer who analysts often refer to as the best cricket player the game has ever had. She is the first cricketer (men or women) to score more than 2000 runs in international T20. She created the milestone during the Women Asia Cup T20 in 2018.
Raj is one of the most famous cricketers in cricket crazy India. Her excellent ability to beat has earned her the title of “Tendulkar of Women’s Cricket” in her country. She has more one-day internationals than any other cricketer in the world.
The 36-year-old scored seven consecutive fifties during the 2017 Women’s Cricket World Cup. This is the record that hit most of the fifties in a row by a cricketer. Mithali was not only the best cricket player with the bat, but also a great success as captain.
She has played 10 Tests, 197 ODIs and 85 T20Is for India, scoring 663, 6550 and 2283 runs, respectively.
Ellyse Perry
Ellyse Perry is an Australian athlete who is the only Australian to play in both cricket and football World Cups. Perry made her international debut at cricket in 2008 at the age of 16, and in the same year she also played her first international football game.
Ellyse was good enough to keep playing both games. However, she had to settle in 2010 when Australia prepared for the ICC Women’s World Cup T20 and the AFC Women’s Asian Cup at the same time. The Australian authorities of both games wanted to keep her. However, she herself decided on the beautiful cricket game on football.
28-year-old Perry continued to face many obstacles to maintain her commitment to both sports. However, she preferred mostly cricket to football.
Ellyse Perry has played 7 Tests, 100 ODIs and 102 T20Is in Australia, scoring 432, 2851 and 951 runs while receiving 30, 131 and 100 points, respectively. She is probably the best all-rounder in the international women’s cycle.
Smriti Mandhana
Smriti Mandhana is an Indian women’s cricketer who won the 2018 Women’s Cricket Player. Most likely, she is currently the most popular cricketer in the world.
22-year-old Smriti was inspired by her district-based brother to try her hand in cricket. Smriti first came into the limelight in 2013 when she recorded a double-century of 150 balls for Maharashtra U-19 – 224.
Mandhana played in 2013 against India against Bangladesh. Since then she has played 2 Tests, 44 ODIs and 52 T20Is for India, scoring 81, 1602 and 1046 runs.
Smriti has shown most of her clout in ODIs. In her 44 ODI innings she has experienced three centuries and 13 half centuries. Their best ODI strike is 135 against South Africa.
