New Delhi, Nov 4 (IANS) Harmanpreet Kaur’s lifelong dream finally came true on Sunday night as she lifted the Women’s World Cup trophy, guiding India to a historic 52-run victory over South Africa in Navi Mumbai. After fulfilling her childhood ambition, the Indian captain had a simple yet powerful message for the next generation — “Never stop dreaming. You never know where your destiny will take you.”

In a video released by the BCCI, Harmanpreet reflected on how her cricket journey started in her childhood, playing with her father’s bat — one that was much too big for her at the time. “Ever since, as a kid, I started getting a sense of what likes and dislikes are, I’ve always seen a bat in my hand. I still remember we used to play with a bat from my dad’s kit bag. The bat was very big,” she said.

“One day, my dad cut an old bat of his to make it small for me. We used to play with it. Whenever we used to watch a match on TV, or watch India play, or watch the World Cup, I used to think, I need an opportunity like this. At that time, I didn’t even know about women’s cricket.”

For Harmanpreet, that dream grew into a vision — not merely to represent India, but to help bring about change in women’s cricket. “I was dreaming, when will I wear this blue jersey? So I think this means a lot to me, a young girl who didn’t know about women’s cricket, but still dreaming, that one day, I want to bring that change in our country,” she said.

“And I think, it all shows that you should never stop dreaming. You never know where your destiny will take you. You never think, when will it happen, how will it happen. You only think, this will happen. So, I think, that was my self-belief, that this can be possible. And that exactly happened.”

Having waited almost twenty years for this moment, the 36-year-old captain said she was overwhelmed with emotion and gratitude after the final. “Personally, it’s a very emotional moment. Because, it was my dream since childhood. Ever since I started playing, it was my dream to win the World Cup one day. If I get an opportunity to lead my team, I don’t want to miss this opportunity,” she said.

“So, I said all these things from the bottom of my heart. And God heard everything one by one. It’s like magic. I don’t understand how come suddenly everything is falling in place. Everything kept happening one by one. Finally, we are world champions. I am feeling very relaxed, very humble, so grateful to God, for giving this team, which we have been dreaming of for so many years, and we are living this moment.”

Harmanpreet also recalled India’s heartbreak in the 2017 World Cup final, when they narrowly missed victory against England by nine runs — a moment that, she said, ultimately inspired this victory. “After the 2017 World Cup, when we came back, we were so heartbroken. We lost the game by a margin of 9 runs. We didn’t understand how that happened because that game was also fully in control,” she recalled.

“But after coming back, the kind of welcome and motivation we got from Indian fans, that shows that not only us, the entire country was waiting for women’s cricket to do something special for them. And special for the country.”

That 2017 squad, led by Mithali Raj, also included several of the current team’s senior players — Harmanpreet, Smriti Mandhana, and Deepti Sharma. For Harmanpreet, the 2025 triumph was a collective victory shared by players past and present, as well as millions of fans.

“Everybody was waiting for this moment. And I think it’s because of everyone’s blessings and prayers that we were able to cross that line. I don’t think we were alone playing in the stadium. Everybody — the entire stadium, people who were watching us on TV — everybody came together to win this. Because it wasn’t possible alone.”

–IANS

hs/vi