The Indian women cricketers have made the nation proud after entering the final of the ICC Women's World Cup 2017 where they face hosts England on Sunday at The Lord's. India have come a long way in this journey and they have encountered numerous amount of competitions but have managed to overcome every hurdle in their way so far to reach the summit clash. The Mithali Raj-led team will now look to claim victory and win the World Cup for the first time.
India's best performance in this event was when they reached the finals and lost to Australia in 2005. Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami played in that tournament and will now like to ensure that they don't endure the same result like it happened 12 years back. With the defending champions, Australia knocked out of the tournament by India in the semi-finals, it's time for the women in blue to clinch the title and create history at the Home of Cricket.
Diana Edulji, former Indian women's skipper and current member of the CoA (Committee of Advisory), has shared her views on the Indian players' journey so far in the tournament.
"I'm glad that the team has reached the finals, the entire team has played excellent cricket. In every game, there is a new player arising," Edulji told India TV.
Praising Mithali Raj, Edulji said she has been the backbone of the team.
"Mithali has been the backbone of the team. We sent a message to the team to go, enjoy yourself and don't worry about the result. If you play well, you will win," she said.
"All the best to the Indian women's cricket team, you've done the country proud and done the women's cricket proud," she added.
On being asked about the players' performance so far in the tournament, Edulji said: "Initially we targetted the semi-final spot because that would be a big achievement its self because there were 4,5 teams in the reckoning".
"We had two losses against South Africa and Australia in the league games. That shook the team a little bit. We were quite upset with the South Africa loss. We beat them in the qualifiers in Sri Lanka, so that was a motivating factor as they went all out against News Zealand which they won handsomely. That victory carried us forward against Australia," commented Edulji.
On the victory against Australia, she said: "Nobody thought we could thrash Australia when we lost to them by 8 wickets in a league game. That was an outstanding performance. I have not seen any innings such as Harmanpreet's execution in my playing career. I was also a big hitter but definitely not like her. She was unstoppable. A woman possessed as she played on the field.
