We wanted to break the barrier, says Harmanpreet Kaur after World Cup final win against South Africa

Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur was delighted after her team finally broke the barrier to win their maiden World Cup title. Team India won the final against South Africa by 52 runs at Navi Mumbai on Sunday. India was consistently making it to the semifinal and final of the major ICC events but they were finally able to cross the last hurdle.

India posted a fighting score of 298 runs on the board after Shafali Verma and Deepti Sharma scored 87 and 58 runs respectively. The Proteas were then skittled out for 246 after Deepti Sharma returned with figures of 5-39. Furthermore, Shafali Verma bagged 2-36 in seven overs she bowled and India gave their all in the field.

Harmanpreet gave her gratitude to the team’s think tank for their continuous support throughout the tournament and for the last two years.

“We need to give a lot of credit to our support staff. This team has been there from the last 2 years, we have not made a lot of changes which shows they really invested in us and today because of everyone we are standing here. This is the start, we wanted to break the barrier and now our next plan is to make it a habit. We were waiting for this moment, now the moment has come. Next year also there is a World Cup and then the Champions Trophy, so many big events coming up and we just want to keep improving every day, just want to keep giving our best,” Harmanpreet Kaur said during the post-match presentation.

Meanwhile, Harmanpreet was spot-on as a leader as she introduced Shafali Verma into the attack when Sune Luus and Laura Wolvaardt were going strong. However, Luus was caught and bowled by Verma, which helped India in breaking a 51-run partnership.

“When Laura and Sune were batting, they were looking really good. I saw Shafali standing there and I knew it was her day and she would do something special today. I felt I should go with my gut and my heart said that I should at least give her one over today. I asked her and she is always ready to bowl for the team. That was the turning point for her. When she came to the team, we spoke to her about needing her 2-3 overs. She said that she could bowl 10 for the team in required. That shows how confident she was, credit goes to her,” Harmanpreet added.

Shafali was awarded Player of the Match for her all-round performance.