Having made her international debut back in 2009, Harmanpreet Kaur had waited 15 long years before finally laying her hands on an ICC World Cup silverware. On Sunday night in Navi Mumbai, that wait, filled with heartbreaks, near-misses and unfinished stories, came to an end.
The India skipper, featuring in her fifth Women’s World Cup campaign, stood centre-stage at the DY Patil Stadium, overwhelmed and almost unable to process the magnitude of what she had achieved.
She was one of only five players at this edition to feature in a fifth World Cup, having first worn India colours at the 2009 tournament in Australia, a debut that came in a 10-wicket win against Pakistan. Since then, every campaign has carried hope, and every exit has deepened the hurt.
The painful memory of the 2017 final loss at Lord’s still lingers in Indian cricket’s collective consciousness, so it was fitting that when the final wicket fell in Navi Mumbai, sealing India’s 52-run win over South Africa, Harmanpreet’s first reaction was not joy, but disbelief.
“I’m just trying to express what I’m feeling. I’m numb, I’m not able to understand,” Harmanpreet said.
“It’s just that there were ups and downs, but the team had self-belief. I’ve been saying this since day one. We weren’t looking to the left or right. We were only looking at our main end goal.”
The triumph belonged to the players on the field, but it resonated just as deeply with the icons who paved the way. Soon after the final, a host of India greats, including Mithali Raj, Anjum Chopra and Jhulan Goswami walked onto the turf to embrace the newly crowned world champions, turning the outfield into a meeting point of eras.
“Jhulan di was my biggest support,” Harmanpreet said of former India skipper Jhulan Goswami.
“When I joined the team, she was leading it and she always supported me in my early days when I was very raw and didn’t know much about cricket.
“Anjum di, too. Both of them have been a great support for me and I’m very grateful that I got to share a special moment with them. It was a very emotional moment. I think we all were waiting for this. Finally, we were able to touch this trophy,” Harmanpreet said.
The celebrations unfolded before a roaring crowd of nearly 40,000, a sight unimaginable two decades ago for the women’s game.
There was also a deeply personal moment shared by Harmanpreet and her deputy Smriti Mandhana, two of the most defining faces of modern Indian cricket, who have lived through repeated heartbreaks together.
“I’ve played many World Cups with her (Mandhana) and every time we lost, we went home heartbroken and stayed quiet for a few days,” Harmanpreet said.
“When we returned, we always said, ‘we have to start again from ball one’. It was heartbreaking because we played so many World Cups – reaching finals, semi-finals, and sometimes not even that far. We were always thinking, when will we break this?”
The turnaround, Harmanpreet revealed, began with a venue change, something the team viewed not as a logistical shift, but a sign.
“As soon as we got to know that our venue had been changed to DY Patil Stadium, we all got so happy because we’ve always played good cricket there and the biggest thing is the crowd, it’s always so supportive.
“So, when the venue changed from Bangalore, we all started messaging in the group. We were manifesting. We said, ‘The final is going to be there, we won’t leave it now.’
“As soon as we reached Mumbai, we said, ‘We’ve come home now, and we’ll start fresh.’ We didn’t want to look back at previous World Cups, we left them there. The new World Cup had just started.”
Towards the end, Harmanpreet also said that this win was special in many ways as it marked the start of a new journey, filled with a lot of belief. She insisted that once her team broke the jinx, the next goal is to remain consistent and make winning a habit.
“This is just the beginning. We wanted to break this barrier, and now we’ve done it. Our next goal is to make this consistent – to make it happen again and again. We’ve got the Champions Cup and another World Cup next year. Big moments are coming, and we just want to keep improving day by day. This is not the end – it’s the start of a new chapter,” she said before signing off with a wide grin.