"Don't know impact of WC win but knew it was special

Gomesh S catches up with India batter Harleen Deol to talk about the campaign, what the victory means to her, team and more...

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MUSHKIL hai ye batana (Difficult to say), honestly," laughs Harleen Deol when asked whether the reality of her and the Indian team becoming the World Champions has settled. It had been less than 24 hours since she walked alongside her captain, Harmanpreet Kaur, from the DY Patil stadi um at 3 AM on Monday, dancing to Punjabi songs with the winners' medal around their neck.

In what was an emotionally charged roller coaster of a campaign, Deol and the Women in Blue hung in there, persisted, and course-corrected enough to win their first-ever World Cup. The celebrations continued through the night at the team hotel, and even though the magnanimity of it all hadn't hit them just yet, they knew their lives had changed forever. "It was like suddenly, when we got up and saw the ground (from the hotel room), the night had changed into morning," Deol describes the historic night.

On a personal front, Deol scored 169 runs at 33.80 average in five innings before making way for Jemimah Rodrigues at No 3. The Chandigarh-born Himachal Pradesh batter, describes the bubble the team was in, handling criticisms. "Obviously, when things come in our favour, everything fades away."

In a conversation with this daily, the 27-year-old speaks about how the special victory was for their Harry di (Harmanpreet), the past legends, their families, what the impact of this World Cup would be and more... Excerpts.

On waking up the morning after the final as champions