Navi Mumbai. On Sunday night, the DY Patil Stadium erupted in such excitement that the entire nation rejoiced.
Harmanpreet Kaur’s team defeated South Africa by 52 runs to win the inaugural ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup.
As soon as the last wicket fell, coach Amol Muzumdar ran, picked up the tricolor, and planted it on the field. In the same style as Rohit Sharma did last year in Bridgetown.
The entire stadium was chanting “India… India!” Amol’s eyes filled with tears. He grabbed the microphone and said,
“I’m speechless. Absolutely proud. They deserve every bit of this moment.”
Then, smiling, he said, “The hard work, the belief they’ve made every Indian proud.”
Fitness and fielding work their magic
Amol explained that he spent the last six months working solely on fitness and fielding.
“We never let early setbacks define us,”
He said. “That was something we talked about a lot in the dressing room. The energy on the field today showed how much they’ve grown. I couldn’t have asked for more.”
The team defeated Australia by 8 wickets in the semi-finals. In the final, Smriti Mandhana’s 87 and Harman’s 64 helped them post 286 runs. Deepti Sharma took 4 wickets in the bowling.
Now, girls are taking to the streets with bats. The BCCI announced a reward of 5 crore rupees to each player and 2 crore rupees to the coaching staff. A victory parade will be held in Mumbai tomorrow evening.
Amol Sir simply said, “It’s a watershed moment. The ripple effects will be felt for generations.” And the tricolor flag fluttered again.
