Indian womens cricket team makes a global mark

We have built a strong foundation for women cricketers in India, says Indian women's cricket team captain Mithali Raj. The captain of the Indian women's cricket team, which narrowly lost in the World Cup at Lord's Cricket Ground in London in July, believes her team's performance has created a strong foundation for the future of women's cricket in India. Mithali Raj, who has now also been named as the captain of the Women′s World Cup 2017 tournament team by the International Cricket Council (ICC), said her team will take some time to recover from Sunday's loss when India lost to England by nine runs in a thrilling conclusion to the Women's Cricket World Cup. “We still need some time to sink in the fact that the match was in our hands but eventually we could not turn it to the result that we wanted. But ultimately it's a sport, one wins and one loses. “These girls, I am sure, will learn from the experience. In the coming years, in the T20 World Cup, you never know they might just pull off those victories and get us the cup,” the 34-year-old said at a special reception hosted for the team at the Indian High Commission in London. Raj was all praise for her team for playing very well throughout the tournament and doing her proud as a captain. She noted: “I am sure as a team we have done all Indians proud in the UK with the display of cricket throughout the tournament. It's a great platform for the girls and women's cricket. We have done exceptionally well and I am sure it is different phase for women's cricket back in India. “Everybody will be looking at women's cricket from a different perspective and start respecting women cricketers equally as men cricketers and the opportunities and brands that will line up for the girls, it will be a different experience for all of them. “It will help the future generation of girls to take up the sport. We have used this platform to build a very strong foundation for women cricketers in India so that it is one of the sports they can take this up as a career now.” The Indian high commissioner to the UK, Y.K. Sinha, who was present at the match at Lord's, lauded the girls on their performance during all the World Cup matches. “The way they played throughout the tournament was fantastic. You are excellent ambassadors for not just women's sport but Indian sport,” he told the players at India House in London before they flew back to India. Commiserating with them on the very narrow loss in a tense match, he added: “It's a game where you win some, you lose some. I know you are disappointed having lost being so near victory, but then that's the game. But the best wishes of the entire country are with you.” Mithali, who scored a whopping 409 runs during the 30-day tournament, has now been chosen as ICC World Cup XI captain alongside teammates Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma the other two Indians included in the tournament 11 announced recently.