'Asking Shafali to bowl was risky but she was confident'

Skipper Harmanpreet says the matches shifted to DY Patil Stadium worked in India's favour

- Sanjjeev K Samyal

At the end of the final, India captain Harmanpreet Kaur and vicecaptain Smriti Mandhana shared a long, emotional hug. After many heartbreaks, the two stalwarts of Indian cricket had finally realised their dream of winning the Women's World Cup with a 52-run win over South Africa in the final.

They were in the middle of the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, their favourite ground. Harmanpreet said they were recollecting how it was destiny that the venue was shifted at the last minute from Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy Stadium to the venue they loved to play in.

Talking about what it was like to share this moment and journey with Mandhana, Harmanpreet said: “We played a lot of World Cups together and after losing we would go back home, and on return talk the same thing: “how we have to start from ball one”. It was heart breaking for us. Every time we were thinking when we will achieve the breakthrough?

“The moment we came to know that our venue has changed to DY Patil, we all got so happy because we've always played good cricket here. We always get big crowds here who are very supportive. When the venue was changed, we all started messaging in the group that “wow, we were manifesting and this has happened, and the final is going to be played here. Now we will not leave it,” said Harmanpreet.