'From agony to ecstasy' - Jhulan Goswami's 36-hour story
“I was packing up and down the room till about 3.30 AM. My mind was riddled with self doubt. It was not a happy space you know”, said Indian pacer Jhulan Goswami as we settled down for a candid conversation on what the 48 hours between the agony of the no ball and the ecstasy of the win was like.
Jhulan, one of the most loved cricketers in the world, blamed herself for the loss. “275 in women’s cricket should have been defended”, she said. “We were so close to winning. It hurt us that much more”, Jhulan could literally visualize the events of that fateful evening.
“Having slept really late I got up around 10.30am the following morning”, she said. “Within minutes Harman and Smriti called me and said they were taking me out for breakfast. I have my own routine for pre-match day mornings but they were insistent I break my routine. They did not give me a chance”, she laughed.
It was at breakfast that her teammates relaxed her a little and suggested to her that it was time to forget the past and focus on the third and final game of the series.
“They said to me that I will win India the third game and all of a sudden, things changed. I realized it was time to get everything together again and focus on the job at hand. That’s what I did. When I walked out to bowl for the final ODI my body was sore but my mind was racing. I had to do well”, there was a steely resolve in Jhulan’s voice.
So what was going through her mind when she was sitting in the dugout waiting for her turn to bat?, I asked Jhulan. “Ramesh came and told me I will hit the winning stroke. And I was like, "Really Coach"? And before that ball I was telling myself all I would do was go straight".
"If it was in my arc I'd go straight or over mid off. And when the ball was within reach I was like Go Jhulan!”, she said.
Seeing the ball go past the boundary was more of a relief than anything else. Her world was good again. She was the match-winner again. And more importantly, India had won.
That’s what sport does to you. From agony to ecstasy in 36 hours. Jhulan Goswami knows it all and is now readying herself for the Day-Night Test.