It Still Hasn't Sunk In That We've Actually Won The World Cup: Pratika Rawal

ODI World Cup: November 2 will forever be written in golden words of Indian cricket’s history when the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side beat South Africa by 52 runs to win its first-ever Women’s ODI World Cup title at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. Behind this historic triumph lies a story of a campaign starting with two wins, before three straight defeats in the group stage threatened to spoil their plans of entering the semi-final. But once the caravan moved to Navi Mumbai, India made the turnaround through an unbeaten run culminating in them lifting the silverware. In an exclusive conversation with IANS, India opener Pratika Rawal unpacks the side’s remarkable journey to World Cup glory, what changed after those three defeats in the league stage, how she came to terms with an ankle injury ending her campaign before knockouts and more. Excerpts: - Q. Has that World Cup winning feeling sunk in, or is the euphoria still on in your mind? A. It has not sunk in yet. It feels like yesterday when we were having our preparatory camp in Visakhapatnam for the World Cup and having a few discussions about what we all will do after we win the World Cup. So, I think it's going to take me some while to get over the fact that we have actually won the World Cup. Q. Can you recall those final moments of the last wicket falling and then lifting the trophy? A. So, I was in the president's lounge and a few of the staff members came to get me down because I was in a wheelchair. It was around the last wicket, and when I was coming down, I heard a lot of noise. I was still yet to reach down, but I heard a lot of noise. The crowd went crazy and I asked what happened and they said the last wicket fell. I was like, ‘Oh, okay, okay, fine’ and everyone started screaming. My dad was with me and he started screaming. I could hear Vande Mataram going around the stadium. When I reached the ground and saw the teammates, even I went crazy there. Like, I was laughing and showing a lot of emotions. I was hugging my teammates, I was dancing around. All of those things happened. Then we went on the stage and had those photographs, and then a lot of photographs, and after that, a lot more photographs. So it was just that day where I could not stop smiling. I could not stop showing my emotions. I was very happy and it was just crazy there. Q. The camaraderie and sisterhood in the team has been very heartening. Can you talk about what makes this team very special? A. There are two words - so there's either sympathy or empathy. This team doesn't show sympathy - this team shows empathy. They feel that every individual is like their own family, is like their own brother or sister, even in the support staff as well. The support staff think of us as their daughters. So, it's like a wholesome family feeling that every, each and every individual has towards each other. So this feeling of sharing the emotions with the other person, like it's their own family. It's something that makes this team different from a lot of other teams. When this team comes together and plays for each other, then it actually becomes very difficult for the opponents to beat us. It’s because we're not just playing for ourselves - we're playing for our nation and we're playing for each other. We had this conversation where Smriti mentioned let's just play this World Cup for at least one individual. So it's that understanding and mutual respect for each other that makes this team special. Q. If you could say, who was the one individual for whom you wanted to win this World Cup? A. There were a lot of us. So we were 39 after the final. So I think the whole 38, I wanted to win the World Cup for them. So it's just not just one individual. I wanted to win it for the whole team, including the support staff and the ones that I am attached to - for my parents, my coach and extended family. So it was not just one individual - it was for the entire nation. Q. What were the conversations within the team after that narrow loss in Indore and what positive came out of it which propelled a surreal run in Navi Mumbai? A. So we had a lot of tough conversations about what all we can do as a unit in order to beat teams like New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. We had a lot of conversations with the support staff and players as well. We had honest conversations and in this team, there is a lot of honesty. If someone comes up to me and says that. ‘Pratika, you're not doing this right’, I'm not going to take it in any other way because I know it's coming from the bottom of their heart and they want us to improve. So the understanding of that the other person is saying in my favor is something that helps this team to bounce back every time. Also, we had a lot of conversations in terms of to peak at the right time. We had to just play the best cricket because we've been doing that since a year now. We were touching 300 scores more often than not. So even in the initial phase of the World Cup, we were not having our best game out. We were struggling with the scores - not a lot of big scores, although we had different match winners every time. So when it came all together in the New Zealand match, it went in our favor. Q. Talking about your injury, how difficult was it for you to accept that you've been injured and won’t play in the World Cup knockouts? A. See, acceptance comes from within. When I got injured, the first thing was to accept the fact that I got injured because I cannot do anything in that area because I cannot go back in time and change the situation. So accepting was, for me at least, it was very easy because that's not in my hands. The first step to get over a fact is to accept things. Luckily, I got that acceptance very quickly because there were a lot of people around me who kept saying good things to me - like whatever happens, happens for the best and it will get better. You're going to come back stronger and this happens to every other player. So a lot of good talks and positive environment around me helped me accept it faster. When you accept things, when you understand this is not in your hands, you look for other ways - how to recover fast maybe and what all I need to do in order to recover fast. Then what all is there for me in order to learn the other skills as well. Apart from cricket, maybe I can develop a lot of soft skills in this period and do a lot of introspection. So when you look at it that way, it becomes easier. See, injuries are definitely disheartening. When you feel that pain, that physical pain and mental pain, it's difficult to get over that. But luckily, I have people around me who love to keep pushing me in order to get better. I think with them around me, I'm going to recover very fast. Q. How has been the impact of Harmanpreet Kaur and Amol Muzumdar in shaping the team’s mindset and performances in this journey? A. The impact of Harman and Amol sir is quite huge because they both show so much belief in their team. They both tell their team that whatever happens, this is our team - we're going to bear the consequences if we're with them in this success. It was like we're with them even in bad times, like what happened in the middle of the competition. Q. How has been the impact of Harmanpreet Kaur and Amol Muzumdar in shaping the team’s mindset and performances in this journey? Also Read: LIVE Cricket ScoreYou put your sweat, blood, and everything to win the trophy for them. The respect you get from both sides, the endless conversations in order to motivate us, I think it goes without saying, and how do I put it in words that because of them, we were able to do a lot better on the field. Article Source: IANS