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History beckons Harmanpreet Kaur’s India, but the ladies are already inspirational and revolutionary champions
Sunday in Navi Mumbai could formalise the coronation of Harmanpreet’s ladies as the world champions. But they are already champions in their own right.
The most influential reference point in Indian cricket, inarguably, remains the ultimate glory at the 1983 Prudential World Cup in England.
True, by then, India had secured a 3-1 victory in New Zealand in 1967-68, and achieved back-to-back 1-0 triumphs in the Caribbean and England in 1971. However, there was a touch of the mysteriously alluring about those successes, because the only visual evidence, beyond newspaper reports, was through newsreels played in cinema halls before the start of a movie.
1983 was different. Thousands of Indians (television was still in its infancy in the country, so we will refrain from using ‘millions’) were privy to ‘live’ pictures from Lord’s when, against all odds, Kapil Dev’s Devils stunned overwhelming favourites West Indies in the final. That catch from the captain to dismiss a marauding Viv Richards couldn’t be seen in real-time, thanks to a satellite outage, but when Mohinder Amarnath trapped Michael Holding in front to tear the form book to shreds, a grateful nation unabashedly celebrated the unexpected windfall.
Beyond raising the stock of Indian cricket, the domino effect triggered the advent in time to come of the golden generation of the sport in the country. Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and VVS Laxman, among others, have spoken publicly about the impact of 25 June 1983 on their psyche. That day was a seminal moment in the history of Indian cricket, an extraordinary success story that laid the genesis of India’s rise to become a global cricketing superpower, both on and off the field, as it is today.
Women’s cricket is in far better health in India now than men’s cricket was 42 and a quarter years back. At the time, in six previous games, India had registered a solitary victory, against a motley bunch banded as East Africa in the inaugural edition in 1975. Four years later, in England, India lost all three matches, including one to Sri Lanka, which had yet to attain Full Member status. By contrast, before 2025, the women had made the finals of the ODI World Cup twice previously, both times under Mithali Raj: in 2005, when they were beaten by Australia, and, more famously, in 2017, when they lost to England by just nine runs.
India’s place in the 2017 final was facilitated by a monumental, magical, magnificent unbeaten 171 in the semifinal against Australia in Derby by Harmanpreet Kaur. Eight years on, the 36-year-old from Punjab is a win away from going where no India Women captain has gone before. A maiden World Cup triumph will inexorably alter the landscape of women’s cricket in India though, truth to tell, the sport is already buzzing, thanks to the various initiatives of the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the success of the Women’s Premier League which, within three years, has established itself as the premier women’s franchise-based T20 competition in the world.
Including this Women’s World Cup, India have hosted the men’s and women’s World Cups, across 50 and 20 overs, a staggering 10 times. Only once, in 2011 under Mahendra Singh Dhoni (in the 50-over version), have they gone all the way. Harmanpreet finds herself in the wonderful position of being able to join Dhoni in the most exclusive of clubs; standing between her and a place in the pantheon are Laura Wolvaardt’s South Africa, shot out for 69 in their opening fixture of this tournament, but looming as a formidable opponent that will not roll over and surrender.
South Africa possess no little experience and firepower – the captain herself, coming off an epochal 169 in the semifinal against England, Marizanne Kapp, Sune Luus, Chloe Tryon, Nadine de Klerk, Ayabonga Khaka – but India have their multitude of match-winners, not least the skipper herself. Then, there is Smriti Mandhana, the No. 1 batter in the world, Richa Ghosh, a force of nature, Deepti Sharma, an all-rounder in the truest sense, pace aces Renuka Singh Thakur and Kranti Goud, and young spinning sensation Sree Charani. Plus Jemimah Rodrigues, the 25-year-old who subjugated seven-time champions Australia in the semifinals with an innings for the ages.
The force is with Harmanpreet’s outfit. Close to 45,000 spectators (out of a total capacity of 45,300) will be firmly rooting for the Women in Blue, aware that should India go all the way, it will cement their standing as cricket’s most commanding superpower. Victory will cement Harmanpreet’s legacy among India’s greatest skippers and lift the already burgeoning profile of the women’s game in the country. It will inspire thousands of young girls to aspire for the moon, to follow in the footsteps of intrepid trendsetters, to dare to dream and chart their own path instead of adhering to the beaten one. It will vindicate the processes put in place by the BCCI, and it will reiterate the standing of the women’s game as a flourishing entity in its own right.
It will spawn the next Harman, the next Smiriti, the next Jemimah, the next Renuka and Deepti. It will compel cricket-watchers to view the women’s game through a whole new prism. It will signal the fruitful culmination of a journey of struggle, sweat, blood, and tears, masterminded in the past by the likes of Shantha Rangaswamy, Diana Eduljee, and Mithali, among others. It will emphatically erase the so-near, yet-so-far narrative.
Sunday in Navi Mumbai could formalise the coronation of Harmanpreet’s ladies as the world champions. But they are already champions in their own right, and that is almost worth more than the World Cup trophy itself.
