Beaten thrice in the 8-team preliminary league, Team India slipped into the semi-finals with a win over New Zealand and then did the near impossible in stopping a 15-match victory streak of a formidable Australian team, 7-time ODI World Cup champions
The Women in Blue lived up to the massive expectations of a billion plus cricket followers in winning the ODI World Cup, keeping their tryst with a maiden trophy at the midnight hour. Having done the unthinkable in downing the mighty Australian team in the semi-final in a record chase, their beating South Africa in the final was highly anticipated. They displayed their awareness of the fact that the newly born self-belief was not to be wasted as cup winning chances do not come easily in a hyper competitive sporting world.
Beaten thrice in the 8-team preliminary league, Team India slipped into the semi-finals with a win over New Zealand and then did the near impossible in stopping a 15-match victory streak of a formidable Australian team, 7-time ODI World Cup champions. They rode on a remarkable anchoring innings of Jemima Rodrigues who proved that the vulnerabilities of being a woman in the uncertain world of sport can be conquered if mind can be placed over matter.
One of the two best performers in the final was Shaifali Verma who played only because the free-striking young opener was injured. She grabbed the opportunity with a sensibly composed top score and provided the breakthroughs surprisingly in her unpretentious off breaks just bowled on a wicket-to-wicket line. The other was a determined Deepti Sharma who took on the role of keeping the tail end of the innings productive and then bowling accurately to reap five wickets to be player of the World Cup.
Years of heartbreak over failed attempts to win an ICC event were forgotten as a raucous full house in Navi Mumbai cheered them on even as the impeccable batter Laura Woolvardt kept South Africa in the hunt with a classy century, her second on the trot. While nervous fielders, particularly Australians and South Africans, had shelled catches in pressure situations, Amanjot Kaur kept her eye on the ball which she juggled thrice before completing the Laura catch that signalled the breakthrough win a whole nation was praying for was not far away.
The dismissal was illustrative of the efforts the Indians put in that were enhanced by the sheer joy they exhibited over each other’s success even as they, as a group, avoided the dramatics seen in the men’s game often enough. Their feelings for each other, also seen in their commiserating with tearful members of the losing team, and the togetherness they displayed in the face of the ups and downs of a notoriously fickle-natured sport made for memorable scenes. Compassion was shown at its best in the heat of competitive sport.
If Jemima blurted out all her feelings in a post-match interview over the mental susceptibility she felt when facing the vicissitudes of the sport, it made for great listening too as the scene brought out the human touch modern sport badly needs.
The triumph will, of course, ignite a whole new era in the women’s game as the BCCI, the financial powerhouse of international cricket, will be further investing in their women players who they have already promoted to near equal pay with men, good infra facilities and a premier league that gave them a grand stage to perform on. It is only fitting that their conquest of world cricket appears to be only a first.
