2LT National News

By Vivek Prabhakhar Singh

New Delhi [India], November 6 (ANI): India Women’s head coach Amol Muzumdar has credited his side’s ability to refocus quickly after their emotional semi-final win over Australia as the defining factor behind their historic World Cup triumph, saying the team ‘got back to reality’ in time to script glory on November 2.

Speaking to ANI about the team’s victory in the semifinal, Muzumdar said, ’30th October was the day when we beat Australia in the semi-finals. The euphoria was huge as everyone was celebrating that win because Australia has been such a dominant force in women’s cricket for so many decades. It was important to be on 2nd November and focus on 2nd November because if you would have stayed in the euphoria of 30th October, then things wouldn’t have gone our way. It was very important to get back to reality.’

‘Credit to everyone that we stayed in the present, and 2nd November has been etched into Indian Cricket’s history that the women’s team has gone on to become the world champions,’ he added.

In one of the most show-stealing run-chases in women’s cricket history, a masterclass century by Jemimah Rodrigues and yet another big match knock by skipper Harmanpreet Kaur helped India pull off a run-chase of 339 runs, the highest-ever in women’s ODIs and the best-ever run-chase in 50-over World Cup knockout games across men’s and women’s competitions.

India’s dream of capturing the ICC Women’s World Cup finally came true after two heartbreaks in 2005 and 2017 finals, as they defeated South Africa by 52 runs in a clinical performance at the finals, which saw Shafali Sharma (87 and 2/36) and Deepti Sharma (58 and 5/39) delivering all-round performances that would stay imprinted in the minds’ of millions and serve as a tale of inspiration for the cricketers of the future.

The hosts joined Australia, England and New Zealand as ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup winners and, like the latter two, did so for the first time on home soil.

India’s Deepti Sharma was named Player of the Tournament after becoming the first player to score more than 200 runs and take more than 20 wickets in an ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, and she saved her best for last with five for 39 in the final. (ANI)