‘We’ve broken the barrier, now winning must be a habit’

Navi Mumbai: At the stroke of midnight, Harmanpreet Kaur created her own legacy, broke a “barrier” with a bunch of sprightly women filled with guts and announced that this is not the end but just the beginning.

The Indian women’s cricket team won its first-ever World Cup with a 52-run victory over South Africa in the summit clash here on Sunday to script a golden chapter in the country’s pantheon of sporting achievements.

Having taken the World Cup-winning epochal catch Sunday night, the mercurial Indian women’s team skipper displayed an entire gamut of emotions never seen before. She ran like crazy as if there was no tomorrow after taking the catch. Stood a bit detached as the youngsters celebrated, trying to soak in the moment.

Touched “Guruji” Amol Muzumdar’s feet and engaged in an emotional hug where the tears burst out of the welled up eyes.

Called the two OGs of Indian women’s cricket -- Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami -- to hold the Cup. Both the legends broke down.

It was a moment to frame when the skipper and her deputy Smriti Mandhana engaged in a bear hug with Jhulan, telling her “Didi, Yeh Aapke liye thaa (Sister, this is for you)”.

And when Harmanpreet spoke at the post-match presentation ceremony, she didn’t lose the macro picture of what it means to be the first women’s team to achieve the unthinkable.

“This is the start. We wanted to break this barrier. And our next plan is to make this a habit. We were waiting for it, now this moment has come. So many big occasions are coming, and we want to keep improving. This is not the end, just the beginning,” the skipper said.

Captaincy is a lot about planning but just like it was Kapil Dev on June 25, 1983, whose gut feel told him to give one more over to Madan Lal against a rampaging Vivian Richards.

Harmanpreet felt that on Sunday, and her trump card was Shafali Verma, who possibly couldn’t have done any wrong.