Every sporting triumph has that one defining moment when time stops still. The heart misses a beat. And a nation prays. Kapil Dev’s catch in the 1983 World Cup to dismiss Viv Richards was one such moment, for it changed the skylines of Indian cricket.
For the Indian women team, it arrived yesterday when South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt, well set with a masterly hundred and threatening to take the game away from the hosts, lofted a shot that climbed into the skies.
Amanjot Kaur, understandably all of frayed nerves, ran to take the chance, juggled twice, before holding on to the chance.
The balance of the final tilted, India’s belief roared back to life. Soon, India would script history at Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium, becoming the country’s first women’s team to lift an ICC title.
Watching from the stands in relief and ecstasy was Rohit Sharma. As a skipper, he had seen it all, the heartbreaks and the highs in ICC events.
And now, as the scenes sink in and a billion Indian hearts dance in jubilation, the strangeness of India’s story going into the final beggars belief.
Shafali Verma, who wrote the first pages of the final’s script, was not even part of the reserves. She seized the opportunity with a sparkling innings of 87 from 78 balls.
Then came Deepti Sharma, the calm amid storms. She steadied India with a half-century built on craft and composure to steer the team to 298/7, perhaps 25 runs short of what they aspired to post, but more than a feel-good score in a World Cup final.
And when the lights dimmed and the pressure turned heavy, she returned with the ball to finish what she had started: five wickets that broke South Africa’s resolve.
It was fittingly the closing of a chapter written in heartbreak — 2005, 2017, 2022 — all those near-misses and silences that lingered long after final whistles.
This time, they didn’t bulldoze opponents with a thick veneer of invincibility. If anything, India had looked a touch broken midway through the campaign.
But, to borrow John Keats’s lifting lines, they walked in fire and tempered themselves with steel following the defeats against England, Australia and South Africa in the earlier stages.
Every setback had become a rehearsal for that one perfect performance. That happened in the semi-final win against Australia. Jemimah Rodrigues’s century for the ages filled India with gallons of self-belief.
When tears streamed down her cheeks — she confessed she had spent days weeping in silence — India felt an emotional outpouring that washed away years of heartbreak.
In cricketing parlance, they peaked at the right time.
Come the final, this time, they finished. Generations of dreams, from Mithali Raj to Jhulan Goswami, finally came alive through the grit of Harmanpreet’s team.
And behind them stood a partnership of quiet strength — skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and coach Amol Muzumdar. One fierce, one calm. One carrying the fire, the other shaping its direction. They knew how to turn pain into power.
When the final wicket fell, India didn’t just win a World Cup. They won back every moment that had once broken them.
Amanjot’s catch was more than an act of fielding. It was the moment India finally held its destiny. And refused to let it fall.
Also Read: WPL 2023: Mandhana Hits Pay Dirt, Harmanpreet Gets Half As Nine Indian Women Get Crore-Plus Deals https://www.vibesofindia.com/wpl-2023-mandhana-hits-pay-dirt-harmanpreet-gets-half-as-nine-indian-women-get-crore-plus-deals/
