In a recent development, star Indian cricketer Mithali Raj has opined that she never imagined seeing a packed stadium for a final of a Women World Cup.
Her statement should be viewed in the context of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup final played between Australia and India earlier this year, in which a record 86, 174 people came to watch the teams fight it out for the World Champion title.
“For me, it was, of course, a first. The closest I have experienced in my life is 2017 ODI World Cup final at Lord’s. That stadium was also packed, but considering MCG has a greater capacity than Lord’s, it was great to see so many spectators,” The Cricket Monthly quoted Raj as saying.
“It was overwhelming because, as a woman cricketer, I hadn’t ever imagined I would see a match where people pack a stadium to watch a women’s cricket World Cup final like they would for a men’s World Cup. In a lot of ways, women’s cricket truly has arrived and can stand on its own,” she added.
Australia went on to defeat India by 85 runs in the finals at the MCG to lift their fifth Women’s T20 World Cup title.
“The Indian bowlers were brilliant in the tournament. In the group stage, it is the bowlers who got the team those victories and took them into the semi-final. Pretty much all the matches were low-scoring, considering the kind of scores in the 2018 edition,” Raj said.
“It was unfortunate that the batting department didn’t really come well for us, but again, the experience of all the bowlers – Poonam Yadav, Shikha Pandey, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav – worked beautifully till the semi-finals,” she added.