India in ICC Women’s World Cups: The story so far
With the ICC Women’s World Cup in full swing, the spotlight will once again be on the Indian women’s cricket team. The Australian women’s cricket team is the most successful team, having won six titles and failed to make the final on only three occasions.
England’s women’s cricket team (four titles) and New Zealand (one title) are the only other teams to have won the event, while India and the Pakistan women’s cricket team never won the tournament.
Here, we take a look at the performances of the Indian women’s national cricket team at the ICC World Cups.
The first tournament held in cricket was the Women’s World Cup in 1973 before the men’s edition in 1975. The Indian women’s cricket team did not compete in the event as Indian women’s cricket was in its infancy at the time and England’s women’s cricket team came out victorious.
The next two editions in 1978 and 1982 saw the Indian women’s cricket team bow out in the group stages, winning 4 games in the 1982 edition. They once again did not qualify for the 1988 World Cup held in Australia.
After going out in the group stages of the 1993 World Cup, the Indian women’s cricket team reached the semifinals in back-to-back World Cups for the first time in its history. They lost to the Australian women’s cricket team and the New Zealand women’s team in the semifinals.
The Indian team took it a step further in the next edition in 2005 by reaching the finals of the tournament but lost out to the Australian women’s cricket team once again at the summit.
They could only muster a super 6 and a Group Stage finish in the next two tournaments in 2009 and 2013. India looked like genuine contenders for the title in 2017 with Indian women’s cricket team players like Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur and Jhulan Goswami in their prime. They knocked out the Australian women’s cricket team in the semifinals but suffered a heartbreaking loss to England’s women’s cricket team in the final.
In the current edition, they needed a victory against the South African women’s team to reach the semifinals, but they lost the match and crashed out of the tournament. With South Africa needing 3 off 2 balls, Deepthi Sharma dismissed Mignon du Perez but it was deemed a no-ball as the South African women chased down the target.
Indian national cricket team players like Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Smriti Mandana and Harmanpreet Kaur have been brilliant for India over the years in ICC events but have failed to bring the trophy home.
Indian cricket team player and fast bowler Jhulan Goswami became the highest wicket-taker in the history of the Women’s World Cups when she dismissed West Indies batter Anisa Mohammed in the current edition. Goswami has now picked up 40 wickets in 31 matches in the Women’s World Cup and has surpassed Australia’s Lyn Fallston to become the highest wicket-taker in the marquee tournament. Mithali Raj is second and India’s highest run-scorer in Women’s World Cups with 1321 runs in 38 matches.