Jhulan Goswami In Tears, Mithali Raj Lifts Trophy As Legends Celebrate Women's World Cup Victory

Indian women's cricket team legends Jhulan Goswami and Mithali Raj joined the celebrations after the historic ODI World Cup triumph on Sunday. The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side won their first-ever World Cup title after beating South Africa by 52 runs in the final. During the victory lap at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, Jhulan and Mithali were present on the ground as broadcasters and ended up celebrating the victory with the team. Mithali could only say 'thank you' as she lifted the trophy while Jhulan could not hold back her tears as she gave Harmanpreet a hug. Former India captain Anjum Chopra was also there with the team and she celebrated the victory with the crickters on the field.

Speaking during the pre-match press conference, Harmanpreet revealed what it was like sharing the gold with two of India's biggest stalwarts.

"Jhulan Di was my biggest support. When I joined the team, she was leading it. She always supported me in my early days when I was very raw and didn't know much about cricket. I used to play with boys, and the school principal picked me up, and within a year, I started representing the country. In the initial days, Anjum (Chopra) provided me with a lot of support. I always remember how she used to take me along with her team. I learnt a lot from her and passed it on to my team. Both of them have been a great support for me. I am very grateful that I got to share a special moment with them. It was a very emotional moment. I think we all were waiting for this. Finally, we were able to touch this trophy," she said.

Harmanpreet also revealed that when South Africa was making a comeback in the chase, she urged the team to "keep faith" and seize the opportunities that came their way in a format as long as an ODI, where the scope for a comeback is high.

"I was just telling them -- keep faith. We have worked really hard for this. Opportunities will arise, and we must seize them. ODI cricket is long -- there are many phases you have to tick off again and again. No doubt, they played very good cricket, but we were talking about this repeatedly. I kept giving one message to all players -- keep faith, opportunities will come. We knew our spinners have always been our biggest strength. As soon as Deepti and Charni came, we would start getting wickets. The message was clear: just be positive," she added.

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