At the midnight hour on a magical Sunday, Harmanpreet Kaur and her incredible women made their tryst with destiny. India was finally crowned world champions in women’s cricket. It was a journey marked by a long history of angst and joy, shaped by the sweat and dreams of pioneers such as Shantha Rangaswamy, Diana Edulji, Mithali Raj, and Jhulan Goswami. In a high-stakes final befitting an ICC World Cup, India prevailed over South Africa by 52 runs at Navi Mumbai’s D.Y. Patil Stadium, which turned into a teeming mass of raucous energy. This moment is as epochal as it was for Kapil Dev and his men in 1983 when they seized the World Cup at Lord’s. That caused a seismic shift in the way cricket was perceived and administered and paved the way for India to become a commercial behemoth. A similar turn of events awaits Harmanpreet and company, and women’s cricket at large. The coach, Amol Muzumdar, too had his moment. A domestic giant, he never got a chance to play for the senior men’s team as his career ran parallel to the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. Harmanpreet’s feisty women ensured that their mentor finally understood what it means to prosper at the highest level.
Having faltered in the 2005 and 2017 World Cup finals, India also had to contend with the pressure of playing at home. When three league matches were lost on the trot against South Africa, Australia, and England, the knives were out on social media. Still, the team persevered and every game produced a new star — Pratika Rawal, for instance. In the final, Shafali Verma and Deepti Sharma turned in an all-round show, while Smriti Mandhana was as solid as ever. Earlier, the turn towards glory happened in the semifinal when Jemimah Rodrigues anchored an astounding chase against defending champions Australia. Her unbeaten 127 is one of the greatest knocks in Indian cricketing history. If India performed the giant killing act towards the climactic phase, so too did South Africa, as England discovered in the semifinal. In skipper Laura Wolvaardt, the Proteas have a splendid batter and her two tons in the semifinal and final were high on class and pugnacity. But the biggest takeaway is this: Indian women have found their place on cricket’s biggest stage.