At the stroke of midnight, Harmanpreet Kaur created her own legacy, broke a "barrier" with a bunch of sprightly women filled with guts and announced that this is not the end but just the beginning.
The Indian women's cricket team won its first-ever World Cup with a 52-run victory over South Africa in the summit clash here on Sunday to script a golden chapter in the country's pantheon of sporting achievements. Having taken the World Cup-winning epochal catch Sunday night, the mercurial Indian women's team skipper displayed an entire gamut of emotions never seen before.
She ran like crazy as if there was no tomorrow after taking the catch. Stood a bit detached as the youngsters celebrated, trying to soak in the moment. Touched "Guruji" Amol Muzumdar's feet and engaged in an emotional hug where the tears burst out of the welled up eyes. She also called the two veterans of Indian women's cricket, Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami, to hold the Cup. Both the legends broke down.
It was a moment to frame when the skipper and her deputy Smriti Mandhana engaged in a bear hug with Jhulan, telling her "Didi, Yeh aapke liye thaa (Sister, this is for you)".
And when Harmanpreet spoke at the post-match presentation ceremony, she didn't lose the macro picture of what it means to be the first women's team to achieve the unthinkable. "This is the start. We wanted to break this barrier. And our next plan is to make this a habit. We were waiting for it, now this moment has come. So many big occasions are coming, and we want to keep improving. This is not the end, just the beginning," the skipper said.
Captaincy is a lot about planning but just like it was Kapil Dev on June 25, 1983, whose gut feel told him to give one more over to Madan Lal against a rampaging Vivian Richards. Harmanpreet felt that on Sunday, and her trump card was Shafali Verma, who possibly couldn't have done any wrong.
"When Laura and Sune were batting, they were looking really good. I just saw Shafali standing there, and the way she was batting, I knew it was our day. I thought I have to go with my gut feeling. My heart was saying, I had to give her at least one over. And that was the turning point for us. In the end, they panicked a little and that is where we cashed in. Deepti came in at the right time and took those wickets," said the skipper.
For Shafali, who in the past one year saw her international career come to a standstill, must have felt that it had to be God's decree. "I said at the start, that God has sent me here to do something nice, and that reflected today. Very happy that we won and I cannot express it in words," she said.
India opener and vice-captain Smriti Mandhana said she is still struggling to process the magnitude of her team's achievement. "I haven't been emotional on the cricket field. But yeah, just a very unreal moment, home World Cup and just to read that we are Champions, I'm still not able to process it," she said.
Also read: Best chance for hosts India to win ICC women’s World Cup
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