The mango that broke a market
It is peak mango season in India. The Alphonso harvest is at its richest, the Kesar at its most fragrant.
India women’s head coach Amol Muzumdar on Monday hailed Shree Charani and Kranti Goud as “perfect examples” of the Women’s Premier League’s (WPL) growing influence, crediting the tournament for fast-tracking emerging talent into the national setup.
Both Charani and Kranti were among the standout performers in WPL 2025 and went on to make their India debuts during the ODI tri-series in Sri Lanka. The youngsters later became integral to India’s ODI plans, playing key roles in the team’s historic ICC Women’s ODI World Cup triumph on November 2 in Navi Mumbai.
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“Shree Charani and Kranti Goud are perfect examples of WPL’s success. We identified them during the February tournament, and by May they were playing international cricket. This shows how WPL accelerates player development.
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“In the next four-five years, we’ll see many more talented women cricketers emerging through WPL and domestic tournaments, strengthening Indian cricket tremendously,” Muzumdar said on JioStar.
He also highlighted the BCCI’s significant investment in advancing women’s cricket in recent years — from introducing the WPL in 2023 to implementing pay parity for international matches.
“The BCCI’s work for women’s cricket in the last three years has been phenomenal. While they took over in 2006, the recent changes have been revolutionary. We’ve had three WPL editions that uncovered tremendous talent for us to develop. The pay parity introduced in 2022 was another landmark decision. Credit to the BCCI for these wonderful initiatives that are now showing results in our World Cup victory,” he said.
Reflecting on his journey as head coach, Muzumdar described leading India to their maiden World Cup title as a “phenomenal experience.”
“I first visited the National Cricket Academy in November 2023 and met the Indian team for the first time. From that day, our journey began with one clear goal: to become the world’s best team.
“We made some necessary changes in the support staff, team composition, and most importantly, in our mindset. All these efforts have now culminated in this World Cup victory. It has been absolutely magical working with these talented players, and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of players and human beings.”
Muzumdar revealed that a frank team meeting during the World Cup group stage proved to be the turning point in India’s campaign. After three consecutive defeats to Australia, South Africa, and England, the team regrouped and went unbeaten through the knockout stages to lift the trophy.
“After three consecutive losses against Australia, South Africa and England in the group stage, we had a very honest team meeting. I felt we needed a blunt conversation where no barriers existed, and I’m glad the players responded positively.
“Though the scoreboard showed losses to South Africa, Australia, and England, we knew internally that we were playing well but failing to finish games. That realisation became our turning point in the tournament,” he said.
Following India’s dramatic five-wicket semi-final victory over Australia, Muzumdar credited the team’s long-term planning for helping them stay grounded ahead of the final, where they defeated South Africa by 52 runs at the DY Patil Stadium.
“All our hard work over the past two years wasn’t just for winning the semi-final against Australia on October 30th, it was meant for playing in the final of the World Cup on November 2nd, 2025. If we had stayed in that euphoria after beating Australia, we might not have reached our ultimate goal.
“I wanted the team to leave that celebration behind and stay focused on the present moment. That approach made November 2nd truly special when we finally achieved our dream of lifting the Women’s World Cup trophy,” he added.
Muzumdar also paid tribute to the pioneers of Indian women’s cricket, who joined in the team’s title celebrations and were acknowledged for their foundational contributions to the sport.
“I truly enjoyed watching Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and all our players take the trophy around the boundary to their seniors who helped build women’s cricket. We must respect our history to secure our future.
“Full credit goes to pioneers like Jhulan Goswami, Mithali Raj, Anjum Chopra, Reema Malhotra and all the seniors from their era — hats off to them for laying the foundation for this success in the Women’s World Cup,” he concluded.
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