On Monday, former off-spinner R Ashwin called the Indian women’s team’s first World Cup victory a “colossal achievement” and said it was a greater milestone than any other significant international title the nation had achieved to date.
On Sunday, the Women in Blue, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, won their first-ever international title by defeating South Africa by 52 runs in the final.
“I would truly rate this as an even bigger and more colossal achievement than any other World Cup that we have won, because it inspires girls to play the game and consider the sport as a career option,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
Legends like Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Anjum Chopra, and Reema Malhotra shared the trophy with the team after the win.
After the victory, Ashwin praised Harmanpreet and company for recognizing the contributions of their predecessors, noting the move was noteworthy because the men’s team had never done anything similar before.
“This victory of the Indian team, how do you see it? Back in 2016-17, when Harmanpreet played that incredible innings against Australia, after that came the heartbreak against England. Jhulan Goswami was part of that World Cup. Mithali Raj was part of that World Cup,” he said.
“Even yesterday, they gave the trophy to Mithali Raj. Why did they do that? I actually take my hat off to the Indian women’s team for that. The Indian men’s team has never done something like this,” he added.
“Sometimes in front of the media, we say things because that’s the media trend, that this person did it or that person did it. But I haven’t often seen anyone giving true credit to the previous generation.
“Usually, it becomes about ‘my generation’s team is good’ and ‘your generation’s team wasn’t that great’. I’ve seen a lot of such discussions.”
The team became just the fourth team to win the ODI title, marking a turning point for Indian women’s cricket as years of hardship and near-misses culminated in an evening of history and atonement.
“Harmanpreet, from 2009 to the present, has set the ball rolling in many ways. Despite that, when she lost three games in the tournament, people raised questions about her captaincy. And I was surprised.”
Recalling an eight-year-old incident, Ashwin said: “Many years back, Ambati Rayudu was playing at the Hyderabad Gymkhana Stadium. It was in 2017/18, and he was already a sensation then, and hence the stadium was packed. However, nobody knew that Mithali Raj, then the captain of the Indian women’s team, was practising at the same venue. And look where we have arrived now.”
