This is why we started playing cricket – Smriti Mandhana on lifting the Women’s ODI World Cup

India ended an eternal wait last year when they lifted their maiden ICC Women’s ODI World Cup in Navi Mumbai, defeating South Africa in the grand finale. A Shafali Verma special combined with cameos from Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma saw India wreck South Africa in the grand finale.

Talking on BBC’s Stumped Podcast, Smriti Mandhana opened up on the very special evening that saw India finally carving their name on the hallowed silverware. She also revealed why the win was extremely personal for her after India’s repeated slip-ups in the grandest of stages.

Mandhana said, “Yeah, those were pretty special evenings, I mean, to do it in front of the home crowd and the way people had gotten behind us. And I feel it's just been a journey even in cricket, right from 2017 World Cup, we came close to winning a few World Cups, but we could not win or go over the line.”

She further added, “There were a few semi-final misses which we thought that we almost had the match and we could not. So, when it all, like there were a lot of questions as a player that would I be able to lift the cup ever? All of those sort of things. I mean, when you've gone close to winning the cup so many times but you don't end up winning it, you do question that, you know, has God written it for you or what's going to happen or, you know, all of the, and you always, you want to play the sport to win the World Cup, win the World Cups, win the major tournaments.”

She concluded by talking about the very raw emotions, when India finally lifted the crown, stating, “So, it always kept wondering, but yeah, I mean, when we had that moment where we won the World Cup final, it just felt like one sort of, I wouldn't say, I wouldn't say content, but that particular day was, it just felt like, okay, this is why we started playing cricket. Very, very special.”