Women's World Cup victory is the beginning of a new era in Indian cricket

At the stroke of the midnight hour on Sunday, the Indian women’s cricket team kept its tryst with destiny. For the first time ever, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur led her squad to a historic victory in the final of the ICC Women’s World Cup. After Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni, Harmanpreet became the third Indian captain to lift the coveted trophy.

As a grand gesture, the BCCI announced a cash reward of Rs 51 crores for the team which will be in addition to the USD 4.48 million that will be awarded by the ICC for winning the trophy. Overnight the women players have joined the ranks of the richest sportspersons in India. Bollywood celebrities and political bigwigs are trying to outdo each other in hailing the team.

Utter humiliation

It has been an astonishing rise to stardom for the women players. Before the 2012 Women’s T20 World Cup, Mithali Raj, the then captain of India, arrived at a press conference in Bangalore. She waited patiently for nearly fifteen minutes, only to be told by the team manager that no journalist had shown up. The media was not interested in women cricketers.Later that same day, almost every sports journalist in India crowded into another hall, this time for MS Dhoni’s pre-World Cup press meet.

That incident showed everyone the plight of women’s cricket. That day Mithali Raj vowed that she and her teammates would never suffer this kind of humiliation again.In the next thirteen years, the women players worked hard and sacrificed everything they had. The game saw remarkable growth. The climax came on Sunday night when they stood on top of the world. The media can no longer afford to ignore the world champions. If they do so, they will themselves perish.

A changed scenario

Nowadays, look at the packed stands. Huge crowds, an electric atmosphere, and among the spectators, the superstars of the men’s game, Rohit Sharma and Sachin Tendulkar, watching and cheering for the women in blue. Truly, women’s cricket has arrived.Like Kapil’s Devils ushered in a new phase of cricket in India and the popularity and power of cricket shot up, the victory of the women could very likely do the same for women’s cricket. As the saying goes, success begets success. Now at long last, the media will give women’s cricket greater respect. Sponsors will look at the women’s version in a new light. Things have begun to move.

Tales of sacrifice

Behind each player, there was a story of hardship, sacrifice and struggle. Amanjot Kaur’s father Bhupinder Singh is a carpenter. Her first bat was shaped by his own hands. The family found it difficult to support her cricket playing dreams but they managed. Now she has a World Cup in her hands.Hyderabad born Arundhati Reddy faced many battles on and off the field. She did not have a Godfather to boost her career prospects and there was a stage when favouritism seemed to be blocking her way up the ladder. But she fought back and overcame every obstacle that life put in her path.Smriti Mandhana pulled off the best performance of her career and chalked up a new record, even going past the famous Mithali Raj for most runs scored in one edition. Likewise, Deepti Sharma became the first to score 200 runs and take 20 wickets in a single edition.

Back in 2017, Deepti had walked off the field in tears after India lost the World Cup final by just nine runs. But Deepti never let that moment crush her. She went back to the nets, bowled longer spells, worked on her control, and waited quietly for her moment. Then it all fell into place on Sunday night.

The man behind the women’s success

Behind the women’s success was a man named Amol Muzumdar – the coach. As a schoolboy, he had been a classmate of Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli. When the duo was stitching together their world record partnership, Amol was sitting with his pads on, waiting for his turn to bat. That chance never came because Sachin and Kambli did everything that needed to be done. Later Amol had an excellent cricket career but was never selected to play for India.

However, he did get the chance to show his mettle in another way when he was appointed coach of the women’s cricket team. A cool and calm strategist, Amol drew up the blueprint and guided his wards with infinite care. Step by step he took them to a glorious win and after it was all over, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur fell at his feet to thank him. 

Hopefully, this World Cup will inspire many girls to emulate Mithali Raj, Jemimah Rodrigues, Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur. After this outstanding victory, there will be no shortage of sponsors and funds to develop the game further. The triumph is an indication that women’s cricket has turned a corner and is now on the way to great deeds in the future too.

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