"That was a very sad moment" - Jhulan Goswami on losing the 2017 World Cup final at Lord's
Jhulan Goswami has highlighted that losing the 2017 World Cup final to England at Lord's was a very sad moment. She acknowledged that it couldn't have been better when she finished her career with a win against the same opponents at the same venue.
The Women in Blue suffered an agonizing nine-run defeat in the 2017 World Cup final when they seemed headed to win their maiden global title. Jhulan, who was an integral member of that side, finished her international career with a 16-run win against England in her final ODI in September 2022.
During an interaction with Anjum Chopra on her YouTube channel, Jhulan Goswami was asked whether there could have been a better script than finishing at Lord's with a win against England after losing the 2017 World Cup final to the same opponents at the same ground, to which she responded:
"No, it couldn't have been better. Remember 2001, we had gone to England to watch a match. I never thought I am going to play at that Lord's ground. Both of us played at Lord's for the first time in 2006."
The former Indian seamer added:
"2017 was a great opportunity for us. That was a great platform, we played well as a team in that World Cup, but unfortunately in the final at the last moment we couldn't take the last step and that was a very sad moment."
Jhulan Goswami pointed out that before the 2022 series win, India had not won an ODI series against England since 1999 and had also lost the T20I series on that trip before she joined the squad. She disclosed that captain Harmanpreet Kaur and the coach said in the team meeting that they were going to win the series for Jhulan and all the girls were committed to the cause.
"Quality was less but there was a lot of passion" - Jhulan Goswami on the Indian women's team's run to the 2017 World Cup final
Jhulan Goswami was further asked whether the 2005 or the 2017 World Cup Indian team was better, to which she replied:
"2005, because there were quality players, and sharing the dressing room with them was a great learning experience. 2017 was different, the quality was less but there was a lot of passion, that we have to win this tournament for women's cricket because we were getting stagnant."
Jhulan concluded by highlighting that Mithali Raj and Co. were keen to prove the naysayers wrong with their performances at the 2017 World Cup:
"No one was believing that we could reach the top four. A doubt had come there because we didn't play well in the 2013 World Cup at home, then we had back-to-back bad two or three T20 World Cups. So this World Cup was like proving ourselves that we are in the top four in the world."
India stunned England by 35 runs in their 2017 World Cup opener and defeated Australia by 36 runs in the semi-final. However, they came up short against the hosts in the final to prolong their wait for a still elusive global title.