Mumbai, Nov 5: Former India pacer Karsan Ghavri on Wednesday hailed Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues and Smriti Mandhana as the “new brand of Indian cricket”, lauding the trio and their teammates for making “every Indian across the world hold their head high” after clinching the Women’s World Cup.
Harmanpreet-led India scripted history on Sunday, defeating South Africa by 52 runs in the final to secure their maiden ICC Women’s World Cup title.
“Hats off to the girls, the way they played cricket throughout the World Cup at various venues, especially the last two games against Australia and South Africa. They are the deserving winners of the World Cup,” Ghavri said.
“Like the men’s team has Virat, Rohit, and Gill, Smriti, Jemimah, and Harmanpreet are now the new brand of Indian cricket,” Ghavri said during the inauguration of an inter-state cricket tournament for physically challenged players at the Police Gymkhana here.
“It’s such a big achievement. Not only Indians back home, but Indians living all over the world — they have made everyone’s head held high,” the 74-year-old added.
The former Test cricketer, who represented India in 39 Tests and 19 ODIs, said the team’s consistency and composure really stood out.
Having endured a hat-trick of defeats at the midway stage of the league, the Amol Muzumdar-coached side turned it around in style when they defeated New Zealand in a must-win round-robin fixture to seal their semis berth.
Up against the seven-time champions Australia in the semis, India pulled off the highest successful chase in a World Cup when they overcame 338 to oust the heavyweights.
Ghavri felt the gap between men’s and women’s cricket has narrowed significantly, crediting the BCCI’s efforts in promoting the women’s game.
“Even BCCI feels the way men play, the women too play the same way. Both are on the same level now, there’s no difference. You might have seen both the semis and the final… The stadium was fully packed,” Ghavri said.
“BCCI has promoted the men’s and women’s cricket so well. Cricket we cannot look back from, and we won’t move away too,” he added.
The former all-rounder also hoped the BCCI would soon organise a special felicitation for the victorious squad.
“The BCCI has to organise all these things, and I’m sure they will do it in a special function where everybody, all players and coaching staff, would be invited. I’m very sure it will happen very soon,” he said.
Switching to men’s cricket, Ghavri expressed confidence in India’s chances of winning the ongoing T20I series in Australia which is now tied 1-1 with the penultimate rubber slated for Thursday.
“It’s going to be a very interesting two matches. The way the Indian team is playing in Australia, we have got a very good chance to win the series,” he said.
Among the new generation, Ghavri reserved special praise for Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill who he said should captain in all formats.
“Abhishek Sharma is the best in the world. If he plays even for 10 overs in a T20 match, it’s as good as India having won half the match,” he quipped.
And on leadership, Ghavri was clear that Gill should be made all format skipper giving him the responsibility in T20I too.
“Shubman Gill should captain India in all the formats, be it T20I, ODI or Test,” he added. (PTI)
