London: India captain Mithali Raj said that reaching the World Cup final is a game-changer for women’s cricket and their success would translate into respect which their male counterparts enjoy apart from huge financial gains.
“We have done exceptionally well and I am sure it is different phase for women’s cricket back in India,” the 34-year-old said at a special reception hosted Monday evening for the team by the Indian High Commissioner to the UK, YK Sinha.
“Everybody will be looking at women’s cricket from a different perspective and start respecting women cricketers equally as men cricketers and the opportunities and brands that will line up for the girls, it will be a different experience for all of them.
“It will help the future generation of girls to take up the sport. We have used this platform to build a very strong foundation for women cricketers in India so that it is one of the sports they can take this up as a career now,” added Raj.
India looked on course for their maiden triumph before a dramatic batting collapse dashed their hopes and they eventually lost to England by nine runs.
Raj, who was also named captain of the World Cup team by the ICC, said her team will take some time to recover from Sunday’s loss.
“We still need some time to sink in the fact that the match was in our hands but eventually we could not turn it to the result that we wanted. But ultimately it’s a sport, one wins and one loses,” pointed out Mithali.
“These girls, I am sure, will learn from the experience. In the coming years, in the T20 World Cup, you never know they might just pull off those victories and get us the trophy,” she asserted.
Sinha, who was present at the match at Lord’s with his wife, lauded the girls on their performance during the tournament.
“The way they played throughout the tournament was fantastic. They are excellent ambassadors for not just women’s sport but Indian sport,” he told the players at India House here.
Indians improve in ranking charts
Riding on her stellar batting performances at the just-concluded World Cup, India’s Harmanpreet Kaur broke into the top 10 of the ICC Women’s ODI player rankings announced Tuesday. The Punjab-born player is now sixth in the list, the second Indian player to break into the top 10. Her skipper Mithali Raj has maintained her second position in the list. Apart from Kaur, Poonam Raut has gained five slots to reach 14th position. Among bowlers, world’s leading ODI wicket-taker Jhulan Goswami has gained four slots to reach second position and is just four points behind South Africa’s Marizanne Kapp. Goswami’s new-ball partner Shikha Pandey (up one place to 12th) and leg-spinner Poonam (up six places to a career-best 28th) are other India bowlers to move up.
