At the stroke of midnight, Harmanpreet Kaur created her legacy, “broke the barrier,” and declared that this is not the end but just the beginning.
Having taken the World Cup-winning epochal catch, the mercurial Indian women’s team skipper displayed an entire gamut of emotions never seen before.
She ran like crazy as if there was no tomorrow after taking the catch. Stood a bit detached as the youngsters celebrated, trying to soak in the moment. Touched “Guruji” Amol Muzumdar’s feet and engaged in an emotional hug where the tears burst out of the welling eyes.
Called the two OGs of Indian women’s cricket, Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami, to hold the Cup. Both the legends broke down. It was a moment to frame when the skipper and her deputy, Smriti Mandhana, engaged in a bear hug with Jhulan, telling her “Didi, Yeh Aapke liye thaa (Sister, this is for you)”.
And when Harmanpreet spoke at the post-match presentation ceremony, she didn’t lose the macro picture of what it means to be the first women’s team to achieve the unthinkable. “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, and 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,” the skipper said.
Harmanpreet felt that on Sunday, and her trump card was Shafali Verma, who possibly couldn’t have done any wrong. “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 had to go with my gut feeling. My heart was saying, I had to give her at least one over. And that was the turning point for us. In the end, they panicked a little, and that is where we cashed in. At the right time, Deepti came in and took those wickets.”
Shafali had bowled 14 overs in her entire international ODI career, and on the day, got two crucial wickets. “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. Credit goes to her; she was so positive and she was there for the team. Salute her.”
It was Amol, who would always be on his skipper’s mind about doing something big and something special.
“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.
“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.”