It has been over 48 hours since the Women in Blue touchdown in Mumbai to a roaring welcome by fans, aspiring women cricketers and officials. As felicitations galore, the girls have barely had a chance to put up their feet and relax. It's their initiation into the crazy world of cricket at home.
Harmanpreet Kaur at a felicitating event for India women's cricket team in New Delhi | PTI
At the BCCI felicitation function in New Delhi, skipper Mithali Raj, delivered an inspiring speech that gave an insight into her vision of women's cricket going forward. While thanking every one who contributed to making of this successful team, she said: “I am one of the players who have been around pre and post merger of BCCI with Women's Cricket Association of India. Inspite of doing well in 2005, we never had so much media coverage, girls have become celebrities in their own right, feel the appreciation for all the efforts we have been putting all these years.” The Indian skipper acknowledged that playing a very good, attractive brand of cricket is what has brought in the change.
There is no clear cut road map for women's cricket with BCCI as of now, they do not even have their next six months planned out as yet in terms of competitions. Diana Edulji, former India skipper and member of the Committee of Administrators, while commending the girls on their World Cup performance, said, “This team has performed beyond expectations. When they left for the World Cup their target was to make the semifinals. They went beyond it and nearly won the final. We will have many more world cups to come. Next year there is the Women's Twenty20 World Cup. It will be a difficult one as we (Indian women) are known for their 50 over records.”
While advocating the need to have a Women's IPL to attract more people towards women's cricket, Raj stressed on the need to have more Test matches too. “It is the real test for every cricketer. But to play Tests, other teams also should be ready.”
The star of the team Harmanpreet Kaur—whose blazing 171 off 115 balls has caught the fancy of an entire nation. Kaur, who is called Harry by her teammates and coaches and hails from Moga in Punjab, may have come as a revelation to cricket followers at home but that innings was merely a reflection of her natural abilities. Kaur played in the Women's Big Bash League last season and that exposure has only added to her confidence levels. Excerpts from the interaction with Kaur:
How did playing in the Women's Big Bash League help you?
The mindset is totally different there. I saw it from both sides- how we prepare ourselves and how Australians go about their pre-match preparations. Learnt a lot, they remain very active, their activities are also hard. We have just started similarly doing things two years back in India. They have been doing it from school times. It's important to do all this from school level.
Did the familiarity with Australian players help you in crafting that imposing knock in the semi finals?
The team needed a good score; I had to set a good platform for the team. I had faced their bowlers for two months in Australia, so the confidence level was higher against them. I was aware of what their bowling would be exactly like, their fielding and mental set up. I have learnt to read them quickly.
How do such leagues help the players in their cricket?
When you play in different leagues, you feel more comfortable. In the WC, we get to play one match with each team only and that is high intensity. Playing in such leagues helps players in these matches later. If our girls get similar opportunities, our team's performance can go up.
The advent of power hitting in women's cricket—how do you look at it?
When we follow men's cricket we get to learn a lot. Even in women's cricket everybody has realised that score like 250 is also not safe. Earlier any score over 200 would appear challenging. Nowadays women's cricket too has become quite fast, thanks to T20leagues.
Your thoughts on coming so close to winning in the final and then ending on the losing side
When people keep saying you lost the match I do feel sad. That was a very close match. No one knows what will happen next year. I still feel the match was in our hands, we missed the chance. When I do think about it it feels really bad.
What was your family's reaction to the world cup campaign and then narrowly missing on winning the cup?
Papa felt very proud. He told me “don't worry even if you have lost the match. The manner in which you fought was very commendable.” I also received a lot of text messages and support from family and friends and they kept me perked up after the loss.
How has the perception towards women's cricket changed?
Yes. When we went we were very confident of doing well. All of us were very focussed on our roles. The way we performed in the world cup is a huge achievement for us.
