India’s World Cup triumph to all the legends of the past, whose efforts laid the foundations of lasting success.
For Mithali, for Goswami, for Chopra: India’s World Cup win years in the making.
Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, and Anjum Chopra all said “Thank you” as the winning Indian team carried the ODI World Cup trophy around the stadium in Navi Mumbai, creating the most hilarious celebratory scenes.
With her eyes closed, Goswami sobbed as she towered over captain Harmanpreet Kaur on one shoulder and vice-captain Smriti Mandhana on the other. She barely knew how else to express her gratitude for the enormous work required to finally bring the trophy home.
With the group gathered around her, Mithali raised the prize and received thunderous acclaim. Eight years prior, she had almost won it herself. She hugged it as tightly as she could now that she had it.
Shortly after Harmanpreet had declared, “finally, finally, finally” on commentary, Chopra put her arms around her and said, “you have done it,” just as the Indian team was starting to celebrate. Maybe she was counting the two World Cup finals India’s side lost in 2005 and 2017, and that the third time was the true “finally” that caused the players and their families to celebrate nonstop at the stadium and the nearby team hotel until the wee hours of Monday morning.
Reema Malhotra, who represented India 64 times and was Harmanpreet’s senior in the 2009 and 2013 World Cups, also received the award.
The irony of expressing gratitude to the present team was that some of the players with World Cup medals around their necks were developed by these past players, who also set the groundwork and prepared the way.
Goswami, who persuaded her parents to allow her to play cricket as a teenager despite having to travel by train from her village of Chakdaha to Kolkata every morning before dawn, is the one who should be thanked by today’s fast bowlers.
The current batsmen should be grateful to Mithali for leading India to two World Cup finals as captain at age 21 and blasting a Test double-century four months before she turned 20.
In 2009, Harmanpreet made her international debut under Goswami; under Mithali, she rose to the position of vice captain, which she later assumed following Mithali’s exit in 2022. More than fifteen years ago, Chopra had also trained a young Harmanpreet.
Despite feeling “numb” during the press conference, Harmanpreet explained that this historic achievement was the result of many people working behind the scenes, including coaches, close friends, and families who supported them through the highs and lows. And all the former players, some of whom set the groundwork for women’s cricket in India many years ago.
Diana Edulji and Shantha Rangaswamy are two of them; on Sunday night, they observed the players from the stands at DY Patil Stadium. They are two of the game’s pioneers who began with little and are still involved today in administrative roles.
The trophy that the Indian team continues to play with may be as much the property of the players who played for India, not only without contracts or match payments but also particularly under the Women’s Cricket Association of India (WCAI), an organisation founded in 1973 by game enthusiasts.
In a sense, the INR 51 crore prize money that the BCCI announced the day after the World Cup victory also goes to individuals who juggled many professions while playing cricket. To those who, even after players like Harmanpreet and Mandhana had picked up their bats, bravely battled against gender conventions and early administrative obstacles to establish a structure for girls to begin considering a career in cricket.
A World Cup title is the result of generations of players, their parents, close friends, and family. Harmanpreet was also aware of the media’s contribution to the game’s popularity.
She brought a few reporters to the platform as soon as her post-final news conference was ended, particularly those who had contributed to the coverage of women’s cricket, and she snapped selfies with almost all of them carrying the trophy. Interestingly, they said the same thing that everyone in Harmanpreet’s immediate vicinity had been saying: “Thank you.”