Former sprinter R Ashwin on Monday described the Indian team’s first Women’s World Cup win as a “tremendous achievement” and rated it as a bigger milestone than any other major world title the country has won so far.
The Harmanpreet Kaur-led Indian team beat South Africa by 52 runs in the final on Sunday to win their first-ever world title.
“I would really like to consider this a bigger and more monumental achievement than any other World Cup we have won, because it inspires girls to take up the game and consider this sport as a career option,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
“The Indian men’s team has never done anything like this before.”
After the win, the team shared the trophy with legends like Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Anjum Chopra and Reema Malhotra.
Ashwin lauded Harmanpreet and its partners for recognizing the contribution of their predecessors after the victory, saying the gesture stood out because the men’s team had never done anything like this before in the past.
“This win for the Indian team, how do you see it? In the 2016-17 season, when Harmanpreet Kaur played that amazing innings against Australia, after that came the defeat against England. Jhulan Goswami was part of that World Cup. Mithali Raj was part of that World Cup,” he said.
“Even yesterday, the Indian team 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 anything like this before,” he added.
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“Sometimes in front of the media, we say things because that’s the media trend, that this person did that or that person did that. But I haven’t often seen anyone give real credit to the previous generation.
“Usually it becomes a matter of ‘the team of my generation was good’ and ‘the team of your generation was not that great’. I have seen a lot of such discussions,” Ashwin said.
It was a watershed moment for Indian women’s cricket, as years of toil and failures culminated in an evening of redemption and history, as the team became only the fourth team to lift the ODI title.
Recalling an incident eight years ago, Ashwin said: “Harmanpreet Kaur, from 2009 to the present, has moved the ball in so many ways. However, when she lost three matches in the tournament, people raised questions about her captaincy. I was surprised that she has come from so far behind.”
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“Many years ago, Ambati Rayudu was playing at the Hyderabad Gymkhana Stadium. It was in the 2017/18 season, and it was already a huge buzz at that time and hence the stadium was full. However, no one knew that Mithali Raj, the then captain of the Indian women’s team, was training at the same venue. And look where we are now.”
(Tags for translation) Huge achievement for Indian Women’s World Cup R Ashwin (R) Ashwin rates Women’s World Cup win bigger than men’s titles (R) India’s Women’s World Cup inspires girls to play cricket (R) Harmanpreet Kaur’s leadership Praise for R Ashwin (R) India women’s team shares trophy with Mithali Raj Jhulan Goswami (R) R Ashwin comments on Indian men’s team’s trophy celebration (R) Ashwin praises Indian women’s team for recognizing its ancestors (R)"The Indian men’s team has never done anything like this before" Ashwin
