Former Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin has given reasons why he thinks that the 2025 Women world cup win by India will be an even greater and more monumental victory in the history of the world cup in India. In 2025, India won the 50-over event in its first time in 13 editions.
He remembered a time when he was at the same location in 2017-18 where he found Ambati Rayudu and Mithali Raj. Nevertheless, members of the packed stadium failed to identify the then captain of the women unit. Ashwin is of the opinion that a lot has changed since then in women cricket.
“Many years back, Ambati Rayudu was playing at the Hyderabad Gymkhana Stadium. It was in 2017/18, and he was already a sensation then, and hence the stadium was packed. However, nobody knew that Mithali Raj, then the captain of the Indian women’s team, was practicing at the same venue. Look where we have arrived now. I would truly rate this as an even bigger and more colossal achievement than any other World Cup that we have won, because it inspires girls to play the game and consider the sport as a career option,” stated Ashwin in a video on his YouTube channel.
The former off-spinner also urged that a full-fledged documentary be done about the entire title-winning run. He believed that the film should reflect the contributions of all players as well as members of the squad’s coaching and support staff, rather than just a few people.
“This is such a significant achievement that it can be adapted into a movie by directors and producers. They have to change the way they tell the story. They cannot show that India won only because of 1-2 players. That’s not possible. People will always talk about Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma and Harmanpreet. But I want to see a story on Amol Muzumdar, on Shree Charani, and how she stood her ground. Remember, she wasn’t part of the scheme until June. I would love to see such small stories told in an 8-episode documentary.”
Ravichandran Ashwin
India defeated South Africa by 52 runs in the mega event final in Navi Mumbai on Sunday, November 2. Shafali Verma and Deepti Sharma won Player of the Match and Player of the Tournament trophies, respectively.
