Better late than never for Women in Blue, BCCI felicitates ICC World Cup 2017 finalists

Courtesy: IANS

New Delhi: People of India, the cricket-crazy country, are well-known to go the extra mile while showering the Men in Blue with love, adulation and accolades.

But, the Indian women's cricket team is not used to this kind of limelight, remarked skipper Mithali Raj.

The ICC Women's World Cup 2017 finalists returned home with their heads held high and to their surprise, Mithali & Co. were given a rousing reception at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai.

And it was not just this. They received an even more glitzy acknowledgement of their achievement when the BCCI felicitated Team India at the Taj Mahal Hotel in New Delhi on Thursday.

The girls did not look overwhelmed or nervous but surely they were a little unaware about the magnanimity of the occasion as they walked towards the "Longchamp" hall. 

As soon as they arrived, the women dressed in navy blue pant suits with BCCI emblems, were greeted by an incessant and loud crescendo of the crackling sounds.

All the BCCI dignitaries from Amitabh Chaudhary to Rajeev Shukla were present to show the girls how proud the board is of their commendable feat. Women's cricket came under BCCI's jurisdiction in 2006 and has come a long way since then.

The BCCI acting secretary Chaudhary congratulated the team and assured that the women cricketers will get the same attention as their male counterparts going forward.

At the event, former India women's team captain Diana Edulji said that the girls were asked to aim for the semi-finals but they went a step ahead and made the nation proud. 

Ten out of fifteen Indian squad members are employed by the Indian railways and that is why Mithali began her address by thanking railway minister Suresh Prabhu for providing financial stability to women cricketers by giving them secure jobs.

The India skipper was beaming with pride as she further thanked the BCCI for showing faith in her team.

As the only cricketer in the current team apart from Jhulan Goswami, who has seen pre-BCCI days of Indian women's cricket, Mithali almost choked when she pointed out that nobody was expecting her team to do so well in the ICC mega event.

When asked about her future plans, Mithali said that she still has two to three years more to give to the sport before she passes the captaincy baton to either Smriti Mandhana or Harmanpreet Kaur.

Mithali concluded by saying that a T20 tournament like the IPL or the Big Bash League will definitely help them in honing their skills further as Harmanpreet and Smriti have, who play in the BBL and learned a lot from the international exposure.