CWG 2022: A proud moment for all the Indians as the power-packed Indian women won the silver medal in the Common Wealth Games 2022 at Birmingham. Despite the defeat in the last match against Australia, the silver medal is always special for India because this is the first time that Women’s Cricket is included in the Common Wealth Games, and winning a medal in this game will be remembered forever.
While the team is returning with a silver medal, everyone including family and friends was ready at the airport for welcoming the star players. They were all happy and proud to welcome their daughters back home after the scuffling finale at Birmingham.
The skipper Harmanpreet’s father reacted, “It feels special to see the silver medal around Harmanpreet’s neck and it’s a special feeling for all her teammates too. We were a bit disappointed to see them lose against Australia in the final but then this silver medal is a historic medal too for India. The Indian women’s cricket team competed in the Commonwealth Games for the first time and to see the Indian flag rise made us emotional,”
“It feels good to see everyone welcome us here. I am disappointed too because we could have won the final match. But unfortunately, luck was not in our favour. We got a chance to meet players from other sports and also met the Indian hockey team members. I am sure that more parents will motivate their daughters to play the game,” said Harmanpreet at the airport.
Harmanpreet Kaur-led Indian women met Australia in the gold medal match in Birmingham on Sunday, but went down by 9 runs, winning the silver medal. India had lost the openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma earlier while chasing the target of 162 runs. But skipper Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues led the team to a high score to steady the ship. With the 96-run partnership, the women in blue had complete control of the game for the better part of the game, but in the last 5 overs, the situation changed.
India needed 44 runs in the last 5 overs. However, some loose shots from Kaur and Pooja Vastrakar shifted the momentum in favour of the Aussies. The dismissals of Jemimah Rodrigues (33) and captain Kaur (65) lead India to fall short of the target and bowled out for 152.
Despite the defeat, it is a great victory for team India to win the silver medal in the Commonwealth Games. Many hailed the women including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The first-ever CWG medal will always be special, the PM said. It was only the second time that an Indian cricket team competed in the Common Wealth Games. The first time was being in 1998 in the Kuala Lumpur Common Wealth Games.
While many including the men’s team head coach Ravi Shastri praised the women, former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin criticized the girls.
“Rubbish batting by the Indian team. No common sense. Gave away a winning game on a platter,” Azharuddin tweeted.
The fans were already heartbroken by the loss and they took offense to the former captain’s tweet and ripped him for being too critical of a team that doesn’t get as much exposure to deal with the pressure situations at home.
Apart from that, many criticized BCCI for not paying enough attention to women’s cricket and not giving a full-fledged women’s IPL for the girls to test themselves to handle pressure situations and prepare for crucial matches.
Anyway, the whole nation is proud of the girls’ achievement in the game, which will surely inspire many young girls to come forward and win more.
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