CHENNAI: “I believe I was born for cricket, except for that I don’t know anything much,” said India captain Harmanpreet Kaur, sitting on the stage at the Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, on Thursday. Less than two weeks after becoming the first Indian skipper to lift the Women’s Cricket World Cup, she was in the city for a felicitation event where she addressed thousands of young women cheering for her.
Kaur was indeed not exaggerating about her destiny with cricket. On the day she was born, her father, Harmandar Singh Bhullar, bought a shirt with an illustration of a batter driving the ball and a text, ‘Good batting.’ Thirty-six years, seven months and 26 days later, on a dreamy night, Kaur ran towards her father and leapt onto him after fulfilling her destiny.
“About the T-shirt, I didn’t even know about it. In our family, we always preserve the first baby’s clothes safely. On the day (long after) I played for the country, we happened to be shifting houses, and my mom asked me, 'Do you want to see the first clothes you wore on your first day?' I said, 'Yeah, why not?'. The moment I saw that, I was surprised because I had no idea, and nobody did. I think I was born to play cricket, and everything just came together perfectly,” says Kaur in a select media interaction on the sidelines of the felicitation event.
The victory, of course, has not sunk in yet. Kaur is still rewatching all the videos and clippings from the night that never ended at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. In the time since, Kaur has seen the glimpse of the ripple effect the historic World Cup win has had on the country, especially on young girls. While there is no doubt that Kaur wears her heart on her sleeve and does not shy away from expressing her emotions, she is not someone who doesn’t enjoy the limelight outside of a cricket field. However, having seen the impact her journey has had on the next generation, the legend from Moga, Punjab, was in her element whilst interacting with young women at the event. She knew what the success of her team meant to them. “It feels good because the entire country is celebrating this victory. I have been getting messages from small kids, seeing so many young girls going to the stadium, the academy. So I think that means a lot to us because as a team we all wanted to do that. To inspire more girls not only in cricket but in other sports, too. It means a lot to us that everybody is coming together and firstly enjoying the success and then appreciating and encouraging their kids to play,” she said, before adding, “We all knew that if we won the WC, it could bring a lot of changes. And now, I’m sure this entire team will bring about many changes and inspire a lot of young girls to take up sports in the future.”
“I feel winning the World Cup trophy means a lot because even before that, we have also been playing good cricket. We won so many bilateral series, but as a team, we knew the World Cup was very important. Because the moment you don’t have an ICC title, that feels empty. I think we really wanted to fulfil this. I think now that we have done that, I hope there are many more to come in the future.”
When asked what the way forward is from this high point for the women’s game in India, Kaur credited the changes that have happened in recent years, and now, the focus will be on increasing the competition and getting more players into the system. “I think a lot of changes have already happened. That’s why we were able to lift this cup. As cricketers, we only demand more matches, which we are already getting now. We asked for the Women’s Premier League, and that’s there too. Now it’s only about getting more girl cricketers onto the field so that we can have the same level of competition the men have in their game. We have seen so many good male cricketers coming through, and their team keeps getting stronger every day. It would be good if we could see more cricketers and more competition on the field,” said Kaur.
Even as the BCCI and Indian cricket strive to do just that, the captain and the team will soon shift their focus to the next global event, which is not too far away — the T20 World Cup in June 2026. Because, as Kaur said, their next goal would be to make winning a habit and bring many more trophies to India.