New Delhi, Aug 14 (IANS) Former India captain Mithali Raj believes a maiden ICC Women’s ODI World Cup title is within the current team’s reach if they are able to seize key moments during the tournament starting on September 30. India head into the eight-team showpiece event as one of the favourites to win the title, though seven-time champions Australia and four-time winners England remain as formidable challengers.

“I think (India) needs to seize those small moments during the big games. That’s where the balance (is) of the teams that are in contention. They try to use more of those moments and try to shift the momentum to their side, and India need to seize those moments,” Mithali was quoted as saying by ICC Digital on Thursday.

Mithali led India to runners-up finishes in 2005 and 2017 and believes winning the title at home would be a huge boost for women’s cricket in the country. “I mean, that is something that all the players, whoever picks up the bat, whoever wants to represent the country, would want to win the World Cup because so far India hasn’t.”

“Yes, we’ve come close twice, but we haven’t got our hands on the Cup. It would be great to win a World Cup at home because that’s a very different stage altogether…and giving all of us an opportunity to see that,” she added.

While captain Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, and Smriti Mandhana are expected to draw the spotlight, Mithali thinks India’s success may hinge on contributions from young fast bowler Kranti Goud, who impressed in the side’s ODI and T20I series wins in England. Kranti, one of the finds from WPL 2025, has played four ODIs so far.

“I was quite impressed with Kranti Goud in England with her raw talent. She has played WPL (Women’s Premier League), but she does not really have that much experience. But the grit that she gets as a seamer trying to keep pegging in and getting wickets (is impressive), and she picked up a six-wicket haul (in England) as well, so I would love to see her in the World Cup playing at home.”

–IANS

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