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Harmanpreet Kaur breaks silence on handing World Cup trophy to Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami: ‘We had decided…’
Harmanpreet Kaur spoke about handing the World Cup trophy to the likes of Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami and Anjum Chopra after India won it for the first time.
India scripted history on November 2 as the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side won the side's first Women's World Cup by beating South Africa in the summit clash by 52 runs at the Dr DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. As soon as the Indian skipper took the final catch off the bowling of Deepti Sharma to send Nadine de Klerk packing, wild celebrations ensued as the entire crowd was on its feet.
The Indian women's team soon lifted the silverware, but the contingent did not forget to thank those who had come before them and had done the hard work. Harmanpreet's side made it a point to give the trophy to Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami and Anjum Chopra to recognise their efforts.
It is worth mentioning that Mithali and Jhulan, who were present in the DY Patil Stadium for commentary duties, had been a part of India’s near-misses in the 2005 and 2017 World Cups.
Harmanpreet has finally broken her silence on the same, saying the entire squad just wanted to honour those who came before them and did the grind against all odds.
Also Read: Sachin Tendulkar made special phone call to Harmanpreet Kaur's India night before World Cup final
“The last time, back in 2022, when we returned after the World Cup, all of us were really sad. We knew that it was the last World Cup for Jhulan di and Mithali di. Smriti and I were sitting and talking, we were sad that we couldn’t deliver it for them,” she said on the ICC Review.
“But we had decided that whenever we do it in the future, we will make sure that they would be in the stadium. We really want to capture that moment with them. Not only them, Diana (Edulji) ma’am was continuously messaging. Shubhangi (Kulkarni) ma’am, Sudha (Shah) ma’am, who was our coach when I made my debut," she added.
‘Really special’
The Indian captain, who became just the third person from the country to bring an ODI World Cup after Kapil Dev (1983) and MS Dhoni (2011), shared the achievement along with Mithali, Jhulan and Anjum.
“Everybody was there. To share this moment with them was something really special to us. And whenever we were dreaming and visualising, they were actually with us. We didn’t think of this moment without them," said Harmanpreet.
Speaking of the Women's World Cup final, India defeated South Africa by 52 runs owing to Deepti Sharma's five-wicket haul. Shafali Verma also chipped in with a 87-run knock and two wickets as India displayed a perfect all-round performance.
