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Indian women's team captain Harmanpreet Kaur was felicitated at Velammal Nexus School in Chennai for her outstanding achievement in leading India to victory in the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2025. Under her leadership, the team secured their maiden ODI World Cup title on November 2, defeating South Africa in the final at DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai.
With this achievement, Harmanpreet joined the elite list of Indian captains--Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni, and Rohit Sharma--who have captained India to World Cup glory. She was among five players in the tournament making their fifth World Cup appearance, having first represented India at the event back in 2009. At the Chennai school event, when students asked Harmanpreet to choose her favourite cricketer between Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni, she named MS Dhoni--the two-time World Cup-winning captain of India--as her favourite. When asked about her favourite format of the game, the World Cup-winning captain replied that she loves Test cricket. She also revealed that her biggest inspiration in life is former Indian batter Virender Sehwag. Sharing a message for young girls, she advised them to work hard. Harmanpreet expressed pride seeing the popularity of women's cricket grow, noting that people now enjoy the game without gender comparisons and that increasing viewership and packed stadiums make it a proud moment. "It is good to see that now people only talk about cricket without comparing (men's and women's cricket). Now everyone enjoys and the viewership is high, stadiums are full, it is a proud moment," said the India captain. The Indian women's team defeated Laura Wolvaardt-led South Africa by 52 runs in the final. The Women in Blue's path to the World Cup win was anything but easy, as they faced strong criticism midway through the tournament after suffering three consecutive losses to South Africa, Australia and England in the league stage. However, they replied strongly with a semifinal win against tournament favourites Australia in a high-scoring thriller and then by defeating a strong South African side in the finals. (ANI)
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