26th June, 1999 | 16-year-old Mithali Raj Slams Ton on Debut Against Ireland

This day in 1999 was a special one for the Indian women's cricket team. Two youngsters who were making their debut, slammed tons against Ireland and etched their names forever in history. These players were Mithali Raj and Reshma Gandhi.

Batting first, India scored 258/0 in their allotted 50 overs, and both the openers smashed unbeaten centuries. In a complete dominance, they did not allow the opposition any chance to break the partnership, and went about their business in a smooth way.

Ireland bowlers, though didn't look very expensive, but were totally ineffective against the two openers and had no answers for 16-year-old Raj. The best bowling figures were from M Grealey,who gave away 38 runs in her quota of overs.

Come the second innings, India showed the supremacy over the minnows once again. They were restricted to 97/9 in 50 overs. Purnima Rau was the pick of the bowlers who returned with figures of 4/33. She was ably supported by Rupanjali Shastri, who bagged two wickets for nine runs.

India won the match comfortably by 161 runs. This victory also started an era in Indian women's cricket, that would change entire demographics of the sport in the country.

While the latter could only play one more match after that, Raj on the other hand, went on to become India's most successful player, with 6888 runs in ODIs, 663 in Tests and 2364 in T20Is.

Mithali went on to become the highest run-getter in ODIs and lead India to a World Cup final in 2017, where they lost to hosts England by a small margin of 9 runs.