The Indian women’s cricket team led by captain Harmanpreet Kaur made history by clinching the gold medal at the Asian Games in their maiden appearance and the skipper said it was a “great feeling” to hear the Indian national anthem play. During the Commonwealth Games last year, the team had lost in the final, claiming silver at Birmingham.
“That was a great feeling,” Harmanpreet told News18 CricketNext when asked about the emotions upon hearing the national anthem being played, adding, “We came in second place at the Commonwealth Games last time, so we missed the chance to hear the national anthem. On this occasion, we were in the middle, which made it feel different.”
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Harmanpreet had the extra motivation for the win as this was her 100th game as captain and looking back at what the team has achieved in the last year or so, she said she is proud of what the team has achieved. “I think the last couple of years have been amazing. All of our hard work has paid off, I’m very pleased. The players are working hard, and everyone appreciates it. The government and the BCCI have been so active and helpful; it’s been an amazing experience,” said the WPL winning skipper in an exclusive conversation on the sidelines of a felicitation ceremony with Youth Affairs & Sports Minister Anurag Thakur in attendance in Delhi on Thursday.
India had a relatively easy campaign at the Asian Games and was head and shoulders above everyone else in the competition, but Harmanpreet said there is always room for improvement. “I think everything feels okay now that we have won,” she said, adding, “People only think about what went wrong after they’ve lost. When you win, you don’t care about small mistakes. On the way back, though, before we got on the plane, we got together as a team to talk about what we did well and what we could do better.
“Both our coach and captain pointed out things we need to work on as we get ready for future tournaments, especially the World Cup. We are determined to work together to fix these problems and make our mark on the world stage as a team.”
The Indian team’s next assignment will be against Australia, when they come visiting later in the year for a multi-format series and Harmanpreet said she is looking forward to the challenge, particularly, playing the Test match.
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“Test matches are something we are not very used to. However, we want to do well in these games as a team. We know how important this format is, and we’re going to train hard at training camps,” she added.
Really Happy We Won the Gold: Shafali Verma
Alongside Harmanpreet, three members of the women’s team – Shafali Verma, Kanika Ahuja and Amanjot Singh were also present during the ceremony. Verma, who his first half-century of the Asian Games 2023, said winning the gold medal was a different feeling altogether.
“It’s a very different feeling, it is like a big happiness for me. I can’t describe it in words, but I’m really happy we took the gold medal,” she said.
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