India won the World Cup after defeating South Africa by 52 runs in the Women’s World Cup final which was held at DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. Even though India lost three consecutive matches against South Africa, Australia and England, the Women in Blue made a solid comeback and eventually clinched the title.
Captain Harmanpreet Kaur revealed the dressing-room talk with head coach Amol Muzumdar following defeat against England was the changing point.
“The last month has been very interesting. It’s very rare that things don’t go according to your plan, and yet you stay so positive. We were really looking for this cup — that was something special in our group. Not a single player said, ‘What will we do now?,” Harmanpreet said.
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“Everybody just thought, “It’s okay.” After losing the England match, we were really heartbroken. We were about to win that match, but we collapsed. We had seen this in the past. That day, (Amol Muzumdar) Sir also said, ‘You can’t make the same mistakes again and again. You have to cross that line’. After that day, a lot changed for us. Every time, we cannot go on repeating the same things. We had to come with a strong mind. That night changed a lot for us. It had an impact on everyone,” she added.
“We have been talking about this for many years – we’ve been playing good cricket, but we had to win one big tournament. (But) without that, we couldn’t talk about change,” Harmanpreet said.
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“At the end of the day, fans and the audience want to see their favourite team win. It’s not that we weren’t playing good cricket, but we were waiting badly for this moment, and today we got a chance to live it. I don’t know how to express it, but I’m so happy and so proud of this team. I’m just trying to express what I’m feeling. I am numb. I am not able to understand. He (a journalist) asked two questions; I answered only one,” she added.
