Indian women’s team captain Mithali Raj has said that winning the upcoming Women’s World Cup 2017 starting from 24th June to be held in England would revolutionize women’s cricket in India. The tournament finishes on 23th July. The Indian women’s team has performed well in recent times winning the four nation tournament held last month.
The Indian team starts their tournament 24th June as they will play England in the opening match. They will play 7 more matches after that. It is one of the biggest events in women’s cricket.
During the last edition in 2013, the Indian women’s team finished last at group stages and failed to qualify for the knockout rounds. They finished 7th during the 2013 edition. Pakistan finished last in that tournament.
“Our first step would be to get into the semis of the World Cup,” Mithali told reporters before the team”s departure for the global event. India is going into the tournament with confidence. Their performance in women’s World Cup has been finishing runners up during the 2005 edition which was held in South Africa.
“We definitely want to win the World Cup. It will be a revolution for Indian women”s cricket,” she added.
India made to the women’s World Cup defeating South Africa in the Women’s World Cup qualifier that took place in March this year. In the finals, India defeated South Africa in the finals to enter into the biggest event of the year.
The Indian Women’s team comprises of Mithali Raj the captain, Harmanpreet Kaur, Veda Krishnamurthy, Mona Meshram, Punam Raut, record holder Deepti Sharma, Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Ekta Bisht, Sushma Verma, Mansi Joshi, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Nuzhat Parveen and Smriti Mandhana.
It will be the 11th edition of Women’s World Cup. Australia have won this tournament 6 times, England three times, New Zealand once. If India can defeat the top teams like New Zealand, England, Australia then the possibility of reaching the semi-finals would be higher and the women’s cricket in India would change and bring the women cricketers in India to take cricket as a profession . A lot will depend on experienced players like Jhulan Goswami, Mithali Raj, Kaur to deliver the goods for country.
