Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the tributes to India’s women cricketers after their “historic” World Cup final win on Sunday, while team captain Harmanpreet Kaur hoped it would be a watershed moment for the women’s game in the country.
India had come agonisingly close to winning the showpiece in 2005 and 2017 before triumphing by 52 runs against South Africa to lift their first 50-overs title in front of a home crowd of 40,000 at the Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium.
The team had been in danger of crashing out of the tournament after suffering three defeats in a row earlier, but made a comeback to storm into the semi-finals, where they registered a record chase to eliminate seven-times champions Australia.
“The team showed exceptional teamwork and tenacity throughout the tournament. Congratulations to our players,” Prime Minister Modi said on social media. “This historic win will motivate future champions to take up sports.”
The Indian cricket board said the team would be rewarded with 510 million Indian rupees ($5.8 million) for their title triumph, which the Indian Express newspaper dubbed “Herstoric” on its front page.
Captain Harmanpreet said it could be a turning point for the women’s game in the cricket-mad country.
“We have been talking about this for many years — we’ve been playing good cricket, but we had to win one big tournament,” the batter said.
Without that, we couldn’t talk about change. At the end of the day, fans and the audience want to see their favourite team win.
“It’s not that we weren’t playing good cricket, but we were waiting badly for this moment, and today we got a chance to live it.”
The fairytale triumph of the Indian men’s team at the 1983 World Cup is widely credited as being the catalyst for the country’s rise to become a force of nature both on and off the pitch, and batting great Sachin Tendulkar said Sunday’s win was “a defining moment in the journey of Indian women’s cricket”.
“1983 inspired an entire generation to dream big and chase those dreams,” he wrote on social media.
“Today, our women’s cricket team has done something truly special. They have inspired countless young girls across the country to pick up a bat and ball, take the field and believe that they too can lift that trophy one day …”
Mithali Raj, who led India to the 2017 women’s final, said the victory for Harmanpreet’s side had made her dreams come true.
“I’ve had this dream for over two decades, to watch the Indian women lift that World Cup trophy,” she wrote on X.
” Tonight, that dream finally came true. From the heartbreak of 2005 to the fight of 2017, every tear, every sacrifice, every young girl who picked up a bat believing we belong here, it all led to this moment.”
($1 = 87.895 Indian rupees)