Why India’s Historic World Cup Win Means Much More, Beyond Cricket

From Harmanpreet Kaur’s ‘unbelievable’ six as a woman cricketer in 2009 against Australia that made her undergo doping test and ‘bat examination’, as match officials disbelieved that a woman could hit a 91-metre six, to the historic ICC Women’s World Cup win in 2025, the India captain has not only witnessed but changed the era.

Indian women cricketers have been fighting on and off the field, smashing searing yorkers and misogyny one match at a time for decades. Autumn is all set to embrace their iconic win with colours, chilly nights, ice cream scoops, under a blanket of stars, after sweating days and nights in nets for years.

On the evening of November 2, 2025, the D.Y. Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai pulsed like a living heart, and when Kaur’s fingers closed around the final catch, the roar that followed was a nation exhaling 47 years of wait and longing. For India, cricket isn’t just a sport — it’s a shared emotion.

What Indian cricketers did on November 2 is yet being processed and celebrated, because cricket binds Indians together blurring the lines of caste, class, religions, though gender has a long way to go. Cricket means a lot to millions in a million different ways, but what the Indian Women’s World Cup triumph gave the nation is much more than about cricket or sport.

The entire team along with the coach Amol Mazumdar is being applauded everywhere in and out of media. But there is also a cricketer like Jemimah Rodrigues who faced hate, trolling thrown at her because of her religious beliefs, despite playing an iconic, match-winning innings against Australia and ensuring India reached the final.

A Little Recap Of The J(s)emi Final

Despite her adversities, Rodrigues stepped in at number three with India having lost opener Shafali Verma in the second over. The tiny Rodrigues stood tall against the mountainous score set by the Aussies. She stayed unbeaten the entire innings — facing 134 balls and scoring 127.

That day, India successfully chased the highest total in the history of women’s ODIs. Rodrigues couldn’t hold back her tears after the match, and talked about her battle with anxiety and what she went through for the past several months.

She did not mention, however, that she faced months of trolling, rape threats on social media after the Khar Gymkhana cancelled her honorary membership, over a few members' complaint of her Father Ivan Rodrigues "misusing" the Gymkhana space for religious conversions. The media reporting back then failed to ensure the due diligence and fact checks and right-wing trollers started targeting her on social media.

After the Australia match, Jemimah was applauded by legends like Sunil Gavaskar, Ravichandran Ashwin. She was trending on social media (and still is). When she could not repeat her performance of the semi-final in the finale, she was trolled publicly, again.

From ‘Rice bagwali’ (a slur for Christians) to “Ohh, it's Sunday, Jesus must be on leave, that's why didn’t come to help you today”, she faced a slew of misogynist and casteist comments and memes. It reflects secular India’s toxic, misogynist, and communal culture.

Some media houses reported the trolling and communal hate against her. At least a dozen Marathi right-wing social media influencers wrote detailed appreciation posts for Team India, describing every cricketer’s contribution pointedly not mentioning Rodrigues.

Inspiring Millions

But, millions of Indian girls and women are drawing inspiration from Rodrigues to dream big. These women and girls are the reason that the Women in Blue winning ICC WC 2025 is much beyond cricket and sport.

T. Anuja, 21, once shone as a star athlete, winning piles of medals in her school, but quit playing after 10th grade due to economic hardships. Till October 30, her running shoes sat forgotten in a cupboard. Then, Rodrigues' semi-final innings in the Women's World Cup lit a spark. On November 2, when she watched India's women winning the ODI World Cup on television, she put on shorts and a tee shirt again after years and started running.

“Jemimah's knock and the final win didn't just thrill me with great cricket — they reminded me of my own passion. If they can, I'll run for India in the Olympics one day,” she says.

On the midnight of November 2, as India's women won their first World Cup, the nation exploded in joy and celebration. Social media flooded with praise —stories, statuses, endless love for cricketers, Anuja on the day signed up for a walkathon after five years.

Purva Londhe, 26, travelled from Khed Rajgurunagar, a tier-two city near Pune before dawn. She took a six-hour bus ride to Navi Mumbai to watch the World Cup, her first from a stadium. Content strategist and writer Purva quit her job a few months back to enjoy the marquee tournament, and to explore her creativity. She witnessed both, the semi-final and the historic win.

After watching Rodrigues’ remarkable innings against Australia, Purva was left speechless. On November 2, she went to the stadium to watch the final wearing a jersey with Jemimah printed on it. Like Purva, nearly 45,000 cricket fans saw the match live from the stadium, while millions watched its live broadcast.

History Of Women’s Cricket In India

In India, M. K. Sharma laid the foundation of women’s cricket in the 1970s. Since then, legendary players like Diana Edulji, Shubhangi Kulkarni, Anjum Chopra, Jhulan Goswami, and Mithali Raj had dreamed of winning the World Cup — a dream that had eluded India for 47 years.

In 2017, Mithali Raj’s team reached the final but lost by just nine runs. However, on Sunday, under the leadership of Harmanpreet Kaur, the Indian team finally lifted the coveted trophy.

Shafali Verma starred with her 87-run knock and two wickets to be adjudged the Player of the Match. Meanwhile, all-rounder Deepti Sharma was honoured with the Player of the Series award.

Their opponents South Africa, under the leadership of Laura Wolvaardt, had reached the Women's World Cup final for the first time.

“In a game that was once dominated by the elite and shaped by a colonial mindset, seeing two developing nations — both once victims of colonisation — reach the top and now command the sport is truly heartening,” said Mumbai-based cricket enthusiast and writer Saurabh Shamraj.

The South African team gave its all in pursuit of India’s daunting target of 299 runs.

“When Laura, known for leading from the front, scored her century, the entire stadium applauded her with a standing ovation, though she was part of the rival team. The Indian cricket fans raised slogans in a collective rhythm saying - ‘Well played, Laura!’

"Sending her back to the dugout amid thunderous applause from the Indian crowd was a moment of true sporting spirit — one that will be remembered in the history of cricket,” Shamraj said. Several Indian cricket fans later shared videos on Instagram praising Laura for her graceful and powerful performance.

After the final's post-match presentation, when Indian cricketers warmly hugged runner-up Laura Wolvaardt and others from South Africa, tears flowed into many eyes. Our champions ensured that opponent Laura’s Sisyphean century and her team’s innings should be acknowledged, appreciated with grace and warmth. Such warm conversations are not seen as often on the ground in the 'gentlemen’s game'. Team India showed resilience, hunger in the belly, tough fights can be kind too!

For Shamraj and Londhe, this is a collective win yet deeply personal. They see the match as something bigger than cricket. In India, women’s cricket rarely gets the same attention as men’s cricket, and even before the 2025 Women’s World Cup, its visibility was quite limited.

The duo started an Instagram page called ‘Chenduphali’ (literally meaning bat and ball). They aim to create engaging, easy-to-understand Marathi videos about cricket for local audiences. They began this initiative with a series of creative videos around the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025.

For cricket-passionate Londhe, this victory felt like a slap in the face of India’s deeply rooted patriarchy. “I wasn’t following the 2023 Women’s World Cup matches this passionately,” she admitted. “But the patriarchal environment around me, and the gender sensitivity I’ve developed because of it, made me start looking at this male-dominated sport through a gender lens.

"It angers me when instead of constructive criticism, women cricketers are subjected to misogynistic comments. I hope yesterday’s victory helps change that mindset, and I am proud of myself for witnessing revolution from the ground.” Londhe said, her voice breaking with emotion.

Now, the videos Londhe creates about women’s cricket on Chenduphali are being watched even by her mother, who had little interest in cricket before. She has started sharing women’s cricket videos on her WhatsApp groups. Londhe’s father, who used to follow only men’s cricket, made it a point to watch several matches from this World Cup and praised the Indian players for their outstanding performances.

Many who attended the final match at D. Y. Patil Stadium told Outlook that it was the first time they had ever seen such a huge crowd for a women’s cricket match. Around 35 to 40 percent of the audience were women and young children. The 45,000-seat stadium was packed to full capacity.

Ignored, But Still Intent On Winning

After Kaur took the final catch of the match, the stadium erupted. India had become the world champions.

The entire Indian team celebrated with joy, but amid all the excitement, they did not forget to include Pratika Rawal, who had come in a wheelchair due to her ankle injury. India’s vice-captain Smriti Mandhana helped her to the post-match presentation stage.

Fireworks lit up the sky; there was chaos on the field; the commentators, the media, and the thousands of cheering fans — the Indian cricketers honoured the moment with grace. They handed the World Cup trophy to their seniors — former cricketers Jhulan Goswami, Mithali Raj, and Anjum Chopra — as a gesture of gratitude.

“This trophy belongs to you too; we reached here holding your hands,” their gesture seemed to say. They might have been too overwhelmed for words, but their tearful embraces showed sisterhood in an emotional way.

Nearly 25 years ago, when Mithali, Jhulan, and Anjum began their careers, many of their important matches were never televised. Women’s cricket didn’t have the glamour it enjoys today, nor did players have adequate facilities for training or fitness.

These pioneers endured struggles and stood firm on the pitch through those years. That is why the joy of winning the World Cup belonged not only to Harmanpreet and her team but equally to those former cricketers who couldn’t stop tears — Jhulan, Anjum, Mithali. The entire women’s cricket fraternity, commentators and former India cricketers Poonam Yadav, Sushma Verma, and Veda Krishnamurthy shared emotions of joy and tears.

Following the historic win, hundreds of women took to Facebook, Instagram, X, and other social media platforms to express themselves. Every woman seemed to feel that this victory was her own — as if she saw her reflection on the ground.

Londhe shared, “If I ever have a daughter, I’ll name her Jemimah.” She had gone looking for Jemimah's jersey after the semi-final but couldn’t find any shop selling them nearby. After a lot of efforts and looking around, she was able to procure the jersey somehow and donned it for the final. “After the win, I hope this changes,” she added.

A decade ago, hardly anyone went to watch India’s women’s cricket matches — not even mainstream journalists. Mumbai-based journalist and writer Parag Phatak, who has spent nearly 20 years studying and writing deeply about sports, especially cricket, shared his experience of covering women’s cricket while speaking to Outlook.

“In March 2012, I went to Wankhede Stadium with great excitement to cover an India–Australia international women’s match. But the enthusiasm I felt when I got that assignment slowly faded as I reached the stadium. Usually, when there’s a men’s match at Wankhede, the entire Churchgate area is buzzing — with vendors selling trumpets, jerseys, snacks etc. But for that women’s match, none of them were there.” Phatak said.

“It was an international match, but there were barely eight to ten journalists covering the match — most of them from the Australian media. There wasn’t even a live telecast on TV. And even though the entry to the stadium was free, the stands were almost empty.” he added.

Media coverage of women’s cricket also played a crucial role. While Marathi newspapers carried four pages on Sachin Tendulkar’s 100th hundred, women's international matches would not even get four lines. Pathak’s experience is not different. He recalled: "Although the Women's World Cup was held in India in 1978, 1997 and 2013, hardly anyone knows about it. Back then, women’s cricket was never seen with the same seriousness or respect it gets today.”

Before Women's Cricket Association of India's merger with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), legends like Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami played many tournaments and sweated for years without match fees.

Women’s Cricket: Disbelief, Misogynistic Memes And Trolling

During this World Cup, the Indian women’s team faced challenges on and off the field. In the early stages of the tournament, after India suffered a few defeats, many began making misogynistic jokes online.

Comments like “They belong in the kitchen”, “Send them home to do household chores if they can’t play”, and “They demand pay equity but can’t play like men” flooded social media through posts, memes and videos. The Indian women cricketers, however, chose to remain calm and focused, improving their game.

Disbelief was shown in the past, when a 19-year-old Harmanpreet hit a 91-metre six in 2009 when there wasn’t a boom of social media. Match officials didn’t believe that a woman could hit this massive six. The swashbuckling right-hander was made to undergo a doping test back then and her bat was examined in the laboratory. The result was her pure game without any malpractices.

It was not only the doping test or bat examination; it was patriarchy and gendered conditioning of people in sport at the stake. From that day, to lift the World Cup trophy in November 2025, life came full circle for Captain Kaur, who never stopped believing in herself.

But as Smriti Mandhana said in one of her interviews, more than any award, she would like to see two women's teams playing gully cricket, just for the joy of it, one day. The unprecedented 2025 ICC trophy may pave that way for many such Anujas.