The condition of women cricket in India after the performance in this year’s World Cup has completely changed. Mithali Raj & her World Cup stars have become household names in this cricket-obsessed nation and one can say that they totally deserve it.
After making it to the main event by playing the qualifiers, the Women in Blue defeated the likes of England, New Zealand and Australia to make it to the finals of the tournament. The ladies were also agonisingly close to winning the title-decider too before a dramatic collapse brutally quashed their hopes.
Chasing 228, India were 191 for three but lost the remaining wickets for just 28 runs to lose the game against hosts England by just nine runs.
Harmanpreet Kaur, who lighted up the tournament with a blistering 115-ball 171 runs knock against Australia in the semifinal, admitted the women cricketers are getting the appreciation after their stupendous show in England.
“The appreciation took a time to arrive. But the love we’re getting now is overwhelming,” Harmanpreet told the Hindustan Times.
“Imagine what the reaction would’ve been had we won the World Cup!” said Harmanpreet. “People now come up to me all the time. They want to meet me in person to congratulate [me] and take selfies. There are constant enquiries about our next series.”
Biopics have been the flavour of the season in Bollywood and Harmanpreet said she would like to see Deepika Padukone essaying her role.
“Deepika is a good actor. She’d be the right choice [for the biopic], she’d able portray me well on-screen,” she said.
But at the same time, the hard-hitting batswoman is not swayed by the adulation and is focussed on winning the next World Cup.
“Right now, we’re focused on winning the next World Cup,” she said. “There’s so much more that, I need to achieve.”
The 28-year-old is seen by many as the front-runner to lead India after Mithali Raj. She had led the team last year for West Indies T20 internationals before leading the team to glory in the Asia Cup One-Day Internationals and she said she would like to don the captain’s hat.
“I enjoyed leading the team. But everything depends on the selectors’ faith in my capability,” said Harmanpreet.