'That was a very sad moment': Jhulan Goswami recalls Mithali Raj-led India's CWC'17 final loss

Indian women's cricket team have made rapid strides in recent years. It all began in 2017 when the Mithali Raj-led Indian eves had a stunning run in the ICC ODI World Cup, in England and Wales. Before that, the popularity of the women's team wasn't at its peak but everything changed following the Women in Blue's inspiring run in the marquee event where they finishedsecond.

Mithali & Co. beat Australia in the semi-finals to enter the final, where they met Heather Knight-led England andlost by nine runs at Lord's. Recently, India great Jhulan Goswami -- who ended her international career last year with most ODI wickets by a woman (255) -- recalled the heartbreaking loss while interacting with Anjum Chopra.

In Jhulan's last international game, Harmanpreet Kaur-led India created history as they whitewashed England in a three-match ODI series, in England. It was India's first-ever ODI series triumph in the country. Thus, Anjum asked Jhulan whetherthere could have been a better scriptas she endedwith a victory at the same venue and against the same opponent who defeated India in the CWC'17 final.

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'2017 was a great opportunity for us'

To this, Jhulan said, "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. 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."

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'In2017, there was a lot of passionto winbecause women's cricket was getting stagnant'

Jhulan further stated, "2005 (ODI WC -- where India ended second as well), 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."

She added, "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."

In 2017, India beat the likes of England -- in the tournament-opener -- West Indies, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, etc. but came second by a whisker in chase of 229 in the finale at Lord's. Jhulan ended the tournament as the third-highest wicket-taker (10).

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