Harmanpreet Kaur got emotional and revealed that she trusted her instincts and handed the ball to Shefali Verma which proved to be the turning point of the match in India’s historic ODI World Cup Win final which was held at DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. India defeated South Africa to clinch their maiden World Cup title.
Shefali rejoined the team ahead of the semi-final when Pratika Rawal got injured. In the final, Shefali Verma emerged as the match-winner as she scored 87 runs and took two crucial wickets following which India took 52-runs win over South Africa.
“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. If my heart was saying, I had to give her at least one over. And that was the turning point for us. When she came to the team, we spoke to her that we might need 2-3 overs, and she said if you give me bowling, I will bowl ten overs” said Harmanpreet Kaur in post match presentation
Harmanpreet also praised the crowd and expressed gratitude for the immense support. She gave huge credit to head coach Amol Muzumdar who took charge of women’s side two years ago.
“I am so grateful for this crowd; they have been really amazing. Thank you for being with us in all our ups and downs. Last game, we also spoke about self-belief was there, even though we lost three back-to-back games,” Harmanpreet added.
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“At the right time, Deepti came in and took those wickets. Every time, after every World Cup, we were always discussing crossing that line. In the last two years, Amol sir was with the team, and he was always telling us to come up with something special and to keep preparing for the big occasion” Harmanpreet also added.
“We should give credit to the support staff and the BCCI. We did not make too many changes (to our squad), and they really invested in us, and because of everyone, we are standing here. 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” Harmanpreet also said.
