Women’s World Cup Final Preview: India aim for their first title against three-time winners England at Lord’s on Sunday

New Delhi: India take on England in the final of the 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup at Lord’s in London on Sunday. In what will surely be a big moment for the Indian team, the cricket-obsessed country will be eyeing its first-ever World Cup crown playing the final for the second time, for the first time after 2005. Hosts England, on the other hand, will be playing their seventh final and looking for their fourth title.

In what will be a sold out match as far as the seats at the stadium are concerned, it is tough to pick a favourite.

England have the confidence of playing at home, topping the league stage of the tournament and being champions at the tournament multiple times.

India too will look to put their best foot forward knowing that they not only beat England in the league stage earlier in the tournament but also had a special win in the semi-final when they defeated six-time winners Australia against the odds, being the underdogs.  

Ahead of the big clash, talking to the media, Indian skipper Mithali Raj was quoted to be saying, “For me and Jhulan (Goswami) it is very special because we are the only players from 2005 still with the team and for us it feels like going back to 2005. We are all very excited to be part of the World Cup final. We knew this tournament wasn’t going to be easy but the way the girls have turned up at every situation when the team needed.”

She further said, “It definitely is not going to be easy for England, but having beaten Australia, I am sure the girls are on a high but it will boil down to how we perform on the day. Playing the hosts in their own country is going to be a challenge but this unit is up for it.”

The opposition captain Heather Knight, on the other hand. said, “We keep finding ways to win at the moment, we haven’t quite put the perfect performance together, we’d readily admit that. There’s still one game to go and if we put a perfect performance in then, I’ll be a very happy captain. It’s great news (that it’s sold out).”

India Women: Mithali Raj (C), Harmanpreet Kaur, Veda Krishnamurthy, Mona Meshram, Punam Raut, Deepti Sharma, Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Ekta Bisht, Sushma Verma, Mansi Joshi, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Nuzhat Parween and Smriti Mandhana.

England Women: Heather Knight (C), Tammy Beaumont, Katherine Brunt, Georgia Elwiss, Jenny Gunn, Alex Hartley, Danielle Hazell, Beth Langston, Laura Marsh, Anya Shrubsole, Natalie Sciver, Sarah Taylor, Fran Wilson, Danielle Wyatt and Lauren Winfield.