New Delhi, Nov 5 (IANS) India women’s head coach Amol Mazumdar said he wants his side to carry the strong belief that won them the 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup into the inaugural ICC Women’s Champions Trophy, to be played next year.
The six-team tournament is scheduled to be played from February 14 to 28, 2027, with Vadodara and Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium being the hosts. The inaugural edition of the competition will begin a week after the Women’s Premier League (WPL) final is held at the Brabourne Stadium on February 7.
“I think we learned a lot in that tournament. The pendulum swung one way initially, before shifting in our favour. So, I think it was a combination of the amazing talent these girls have, the preparation we put in, and a collective effort.
“Apart from these three, the fourth one I would like to add is the strong belief we had in that competition that culminated in winning the World Cup. I think I would like to take that into 2027,” Muzumdar told JioStar.
He also revealed that he had absolutely no idea what he would tell his players in the team huddle before the ODI World Cup final took place against South Africa at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, which India won by 52 runs to claim the title for the first time.
Eventually, Muzumdar said he ended up simply speaking from the heart, especially when a rain-affected morning at the ground had left his mind racing. “Generally, I know what I’m going to speak. Even in team meetings, sometimes, I know exactly what I’m going to say. That day, I had no clue what I was going to say because it was so busy in the morning.
“As I said, I had to go to the ground, and it was raining. My mind was working overtime. So, I had no clue. Even when we went to the ground, it was raining, so I was trying to feel the pitch and assess the conditions to decide whether to bat or bowl first. There were a lot of things on my mind.
“Suddenly, somebody, Harsha, I think our trainer, came up and said, ‘It’s huddle time.’ I got a little nervous and thought, ‘What am I going to speak?’ Then I just looked at the crowd and said, ‘Let me speak what I feel like at that moment.’”
Whatever he said in that huddle, it worked. India went on to lift the coveted title and Mazumdar now hopes for a similar script to unfold during the Champions Trophy at home in February.
–IANS
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