Hello and welcome to this episode of 'Wonder Women.'
You might have guessed by now with the title 'Wonder Women.' Yes, we are going to talk about the 50-over Women's World Cup that starts on March 4th.
This World Cup was supposed to happen last year but got postponed due to COVID.This year's World Cup is all set to take off in New Zealand.
Team India is still searching for its glory in the 50-overs World Cup.But we have assembled a very talented Indian Women's side in New Zealand.
New Zealand just thrashed us 4-1.But don't count Indian Women out.Last time around, in 2017, we smashed the all-time champions Australia in the semi-finals thanks to Harmanpreet Kaur's 171 and came so close to winning the finals against England. We lost by a very small margin.
And this time around, Indian Women's Team have landed 3 weeks earlier, and are well warmed up.Yes, they might have lost the series. But they must have been well acclimatized with the conditions in New Zealand.
I will give a brief explainer on the Women's World Cup itself.
Women's World Cup is a bit older than Men's World Cup. Because Men's World Cup was first played in 1975 whereas, the Women's World Cup was started was first played in 1973 itself.But in those days, ICC didn't control these World Cups. In fact, for a long time, ICC didn't control Women's Cricket at all.Only a few years back they took control and only after that, both Men's and Women's sport came under the same umbrella.
England Women won both the inaugural World Cup in 1973 and they won the last World Cup in 2017 as well.
As I said earlier, we should have won the World Cup last time but choked a bit while chasing and succumbed to the pressure of chasing in a big game.
I still remember watching the full final in 2017. Harmanpreet's semifinal assault was super exciting to watch. In fact, Indian Women had terrific support last time.I request you all to provide the same support this time as well.
This year's World Cup is going to be held in New Zealand.
We have had 11 Women's World Cups from 1973 to 2017.
And just like their dominance in the men's format, Australian Women have dominated the World Cups winning 6 out of the 11 World Cups.This is an incredible achievement.
They have all styles of players starting from Alyssa Healy, who is also Mitchell Starc's wife. They must have an entire room filled with World Cups.
Most players stack their cabinets with trophies and even we have done it at our place. But their house will be filled with World Cups. In fact, Alyssa Healy has won more World Cups than Mitchell Starc.
Mitchell Starc gets into beast mode when it comes to World Cup. Similarly, Alyssa Healy gets into beast mode too in World Cups.So, Australia will start as the favorites yet again.But New Zealand won their only World Cup when they hosted it in 2000.
England is just below Australia with 4 World Cups. These three teams have shared the 11 World Cups between them.New Zealand thrashed India 4-1 in the recent ODI series and are going into the World Cup on a high.They will be hopeful of repeating what they did in 2000 by winning another home World Cup.
So, these three teams start as favorites. Especially New Zealand are looking formidable with them smashing Australia in their warmup game chasing 320 odd with Sophie Devine and Amelia Kerr shining with the bat.In fact, Shikha Pandey tweeted saying Sophie Devine's batting is divine.
So, they are going into the World Cup in some terrific form.India has played two finals and lost both. It was a case of 'so near yet so far'
Can India win this World Cup? Well, it will be decided based on our support.
We should support women's sport as much as we support men's sport.Indian Women's cricket is on the rise. There are no doubts about that.This year's World Cup starts on March 4th and India's first game is on March 6th against Pakistan.
When it comes to World Cup, India vs Pakistan is like a blockbuster event.
The matches in New Zealand will begin before our test match and so, you can surely enjoy the games with your family. Teach your kids to appreciate the women's game.If you also have two girl children like me or have even one girl child, please make them watch the game. Let them take up the sport.
Encouraging women's sport is really important. Women doing well in all the sports have been really happy news.
Anyway, shall we get into the next segment?As I said earlier, this World Cup is in New Zealand. There have been talks on whether or not to have more teams for the World Cup, but they have gone with 8 teams this year.
The top 8 teams in the World are playing namely India, England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
Looks like Sri Lanka has missed out. They had an exciting opening batter in Chamari Athapaththu.
She is an exciting batter. I follow her games closely. I make sure that my TV is on if she is batting.It's bad luck that she won't be a part of this year's World Cup.There have been so many venues in New Zealand, especially in Auckland and Wellington.
The venues shortlisted for this year are Mount Maunganui, Dunedin, Hamilton, Wellington, Auckland, and Christchurch.
I hope they play in the same venue in Christchurch where the recent test match got concluded in Hagley Oval.
By the way, South Africa has given a terrific comeback and beat New Zealand in the 2nd test.
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