New Delhi, Nov 6 Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while engaging with the World Cup-winning Indian women’s cricket team, praised the individual efforts of the players in achieving the collective goal of claiming the coveted trophy. One such player was wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh, who also holds the U19 World Cup trophy in her cabinet alongside the WPL title.
During the interaction at his official residence at Lok Kalyan Marg, PM Modi highlighted Richa’s achievements and said, “Richa, you win every game you play, don’t you? Richa gets a chance everywhere.”
To this, Richa, with a shy smile, replied, “I don’t know, sir. But yes, when we were under-19s, seniors, and in the WPL, we used to win trophies.”
Richa played the semifinal against Australia and the final with a hairline fracture in her left-hand middle finger. She had originally sustained the injury while keeping against New Zealand in the group stage and sat out of the washed-out fixture against Bangladesh.
“When we used to bat, we used to hit sixes. I think Harry Di (Harmanpreet), Smriti (Mandhana), and others trusted us. The whole team trusted us. If there’s a situation where the balls are fewer but you need more runs, they trust us — that’s why I got the confidence that ‘you can do it’,” Richa added.
Team India had a topsy-turvy campaign, starting with two wins before losing three consecutive matches. But they came back strong, defeating New Zealand and Bangladesh in their final two group games before beating seven-time champions Australia in the semifinal.
Speaking about the team bonding during the tense phase of the tournament, spinner Radha Yadav said, “We lost three games. But the best part was that we were together in defeat. We were backing each other and talking to each other. So it was genuinely pure. That’s why God gave us this trophy.”
To this, PM Modi replied, “No, no, you’ve earned it with your hard work,” and then asked the team how they had prepared for the mega event.
Radha said, “Sir, like you said, we’ve been playing cricket very well for a long time. We were preparing for every situation — fitness-wise, fielding-wise, and skill-wise. We had been working hard for that for a long time. And like I said, if everyone stays together, it becomes easy. If someone is alone, it’s very difficult for him or her to work.”
The PM then asked Radha, “I’ve heard that in the beginning, you spent your prize money to help your father. And your father kept encouraging you?”
“Yes, all the time. I mean, it was not that easy in our family at that time…” Radha responded.
Speaking to the PM about India’s historic triumph, all-rounder Sneh Rana said, “Sir, it’s a lot of hard work. And our bowling coach, Avishkar, we were talking to him a lot — about how to tackle a batter. So, we try to replicate all the strategies that are made with the captain, vice-captain, and head coach. And thankfully, it worked.”
“There are a lot of matches where we can’t do it. But still, we motivate ourselves to do better next time,” she added.
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