In India's moment of glory, a personal win for Muzumdar

After a number of poor captain-coach combines, Amol Mazumdar and Harmanpreet Kaur forged a bond that built a winning team

- Rasesh Mandani

Harmanpreet Kaur touching Amol Muzumdar's feet after the World Cup victory on Sunday night was a deeply Indian gesture that spoke of respect and reverence for the teacher. It also showed how the women's team finally had a head coach who had secured admiration, inspired faith and won them over after so many others who could not.

It's only been a decade or so since Indian women's cricket has truly embraced the professional path. There is, therefore, still greater value in securing services of coaches who have gone through the competitive grind of the more established men's cricket framework. Muzumdar has come through the ranks of the coaching circuit in the National Cricket Academy, assisted Shane Warne at Rajasthan Royals and is well versed with modern white-ball coaching philosophies.

As a player, he brushed shoulders with the biggest names in Indian cricket while leading Mumbai in domestic cricket. Belonging to the same generation as Sachin Tendulkar and other famous alumni of Shardashram Vidyamandir, Muzumdar had several peak seasons in Ranji Trophy but couldn't make the international grade.

In what appears like a classic case of one door closing, only for another to open, Muzumdar may have nursed a personal desire of building international champions, while he felt short.