Purnima Rau recalls Indian women's cricket hardships during her time

The Harmanpreet Kaurled team made history by clinching Indiarsquos maiden Womenrsquos World Cup title at Navi Mumbai on Sunday But very few people are aware that the Indian womenrsquos team won their firstever international title way back in 1995 that too in New Zealand in a trination tournament that also involved the mighty AustraliansThirty years ago the Purnima Rauled Indian team stunned a strong New Zealand by 20 runs in the final Allrounder Rau led from the front with a 51ball 48 to propel India to a score of 200 in 50 overs In reply the hosts were restricted to 1808 in 50 overs with Rau picking up figures of 350 as she duly won the Player of the Final awardlsquoA huge moment for the teamrsquoldquoI received 200 New Zealand dollars It was a huge moment for the Indian team We went in as the underdogs since we had a poor record outside India No one expected us to beat New Zealand or Australia But we proved the detractors wrong In fact we garnered more attention than the Mohammed Azharuddinled menrsquos team as they had a poor tour of New Zealand thenrsquorsquo Rau 58 told midday while making a reference to the Indian menrsquos team finishing last in a quadrangular series involving New Zealand Australia and South Africa in 199495The Purnima Rauled Indian team that won the triseries in 1995 PicPurnima Raursquos Personal CollectionBack then the womenrsquos team were under the aegis of the Womenrsquos Cricket Association of India WCAI with financial backing for the players rather scarce ldquoWe received R1000 for a oneday match We went with a manager Jyoti Joshi and two coaches I remember Jyoti madam wearing the same saree until the final as a superstition after we beat New Zealand in the first league match We topped the table with five points and qualified for the final along with secondplaced New Zealand who pipped Australia We had a good team mdash Sandhya Agarwal Neetu David Pramila Bhat Anjum Chopra Anju Jain Sangita Dabir among others There was no cash award from WCAI But we were happy to simply get noticedrsquorsquo recalled Rau who played 33 ODIs and five TestsRau was thrilled that the womenrsquos team came out victorious at this World Cup ldquoI could see it coming as we had seen strong performances from them of late Irsquom happy that the BCCI announced a R51 crore cash award That is a big motivation for any team It is like the 1983 World Cup win of Kapil Dev This World Cup win could be a big gamechanger for womenrsquos cricket in the country Ever since womenrsquos cricket has come under the BCCIrsquos fold the cricketers are getting cash benefits facilities a good number of tournaments from junior level onwards and sponsors A few years ago very few people would come to watch a womenrsquos international match But on Sunday there was a full house for the final It was a coming of age for womenrsquos cricket In our time it was all a struggle but we played with a lot of passion Things were actually a little better when we played but it was worse during the Shanta Rangaswamy Diana Edulji Sudha Shah era When I recall those days it was crazyrsquorsquo said RauWomenrsquos cricket ODI World Cup champions India PicAtul KambleRau said the state womenrsquos teams faced all kinds of challenges those days ldquoWe travelled in unreserved bogies keeping kit bags near the toilets and drinking water from the platforms We also slept in veterinary hospitalsrsquorsquo explained RauBrief stint as India coachAfter retirement Rau had a stint as the coach of the Indian team from 201417 ldquoWe had the distinction of winning the Asia Cup and we beat Australia 21 in a T20I series Down Under For reasons best known to the authorities then I was removed as coach one month before the World Cup in 2017rsquorsquo a disappointed Rau concluded