Less than a day after all that emotion in Mumbai with India storming to a shock Women’s World Cup victory, Chaya Mughal, the Emirates Cricket Board’s Women’s Development Cricket Officer, received a rousing reception from her sobbing students in Dubai.
“I have students who are girls who want to play cricket and they were so inspired by what they saw that they hugged me before I started my session,” Mughal told Gulf News by phone from Dubai. “They were so excited. They were like, ‘We also want to do something like this.’ “
“They were so inspired by how their heroes performed. Of course, they are the children of Indian expats so they could relate to it.”
But Mughal, who is a former captain of the UAE national women’s team and hails from Indian-administered Kashmir, said that the influence of the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side’s World Cup win will go far beyond the Indian expat communities.
“It’s going to have a significant impact, not just on the players of Indian origin but also on the UAE cricket overall because the kind of atmosphere that was created, with 45,000 fans turning up to watch women’s cricket matches, that is something that happened in India for the first time,” said Mughal.
“I think it’s going to have a significant impact on the participation of girls in the UAE because, don’t forget, India also became the first Asian team to win the Women’s World Cup. So, it is a game-changer, a truly historic moment.”
While India were all over the front pages for their World Cup win against South Africa in the final, the women’s team in the UAE wrote a far less heralded, but no less historic story of their own last month when they beat Zimbabwe on ODI debut.
“They beat Zimbabwe in their first ODI series; it was a historic moment for women’s cricket in the UAE. It shows that these things are achievable even for associate teams,” she said.
Mughal, who arrived in Dubai (in 2010) to work as a teacher before going on to play a big role in helping women’s cricket gain a foothold here, now predicts a very bright future for the game.
“Now I am very confident that cricket will go from strength to strength here (UAE) after India’s win. More girls will be inspired to take up the sport,” she said.
Veteran Dubai cricket coach Gopal Jasapara has already seen the impact of India’s win.
The head coach of the Dubai-based G Force Cricket Academy, Jasapara was organising an Indian tour for his women’s team.
“Some of the parents had confirmed that they would send their girls. But I was flooded with messages after India won the World Cup last Sunday, now so many more parents want to send their kids with us,” Jasapara said.
The G Force team will now be brimming with talent when they play against age group teams in Gujarat next month, in the 40 overs and 20 overs formats.
Fourteen-year-old Diva Singh, a batting all-rounder, is itching to board the flight to India.
“I have never been on a cricket tour before, so I am very excited. It’s a great opportunity to play against good teams (in India) and learn from them,” she said.
Another young player who can’t wait to arrive in India for the matches is Saloni Hardik Pandya, 13.
“It’s going to be amazing to play against top-quality junior teams in India, especially after India’s World Cup win,” she said.
“I was so inspired by their victory and now I am dreaming of holding the Cup one day!”