Indian pacer Arundhati Reddy was the first to congratulate Harmanpreet Kaur when India won the World Cup. Seems intriguing, right?
Even though she didn’t play a single match, she ended up being part of one of the most emotional moments in Indian women cricket history. As soon as Harmanpreet took the final catch that gave India the title, she took off in celebration and was blocked by Arundhati Reddy. Filled with happiness, she hugged her tightly, and Arundhati lifted her captain into the air as the whole stadium erupted with cheers. In that moment, Arundhati was the first to feel and hear the joy of India becoming world champions.
Thinking back to that night from her home in Hyderabad, Arundhati says it all happened so quickly, one moment she saw Harmanpreet running toward her, and the next, she was celebrating with her in disbelief and pride. “Aru, hum jeet gaye. hum jeet gaye (Aru, we won. we won),” Kaur screamed into Arundhati’s ears. Watching her captain so happy after years of hard work made it even more special. For Arundhati, it truly felt like destiny that the final ball went to Harmanpreet and that she got to share the first moment of victory with her.
Before the final, one of the most emotional moments of India’s campaign came during their tense clash against Australia in the big semi-final, a team that had often broken Indian hearts in the past. And to make things even more difficult, India were chasing a mammoth total of 339. Sitting in the dugout that day, Reddy and her teammates could barely watch as the match swung back and forth, with Rodrigues being dropped twice. The pressure was immense, the emotions raw, and the memories of previous close defeats still extremely fresh.
“A lot of us were very overwhelmed by what happened in the Australia game. It was a lot of emotions. It was really tense (in the dugout), because a lot of times we’ve come so close to Australia. I just kept praying to God, saying something like ‘all these years we’ve lost, but maybe God it’s high time that we win now and that you even the scales’. I mean, all I could do was just pray at that point of time. And even the people who were sitting out that day, all four of us, we were like, no matter what happens, we’re continuously going to pray and pray,” Arundhati recalls.
When India finally began inching towards victory, she could feel that something special was about to happen, as India were cruising to a victory that would etch their name in cricketing folklore, Enroute chasing the highest ODI total. Unable to stay seated, she ran towards the boundary line, waiting for the moment they’d all been dreaming of. And as soon as the win was sealed, she was the first to rush towards an emotional Jemimah Rodrigues, someone she had quietly believed would shine in this tournament even after multiple failures.
“It’s kind of funny because before the start of the tournament, I just told her that, ‘Jemi, I have this feeling that this is going to be your best tournament yet’. She went like, ‘yeah, I wish’ but then her tournament didn’t start off that well. She got a couple of ducks, couple of starts (she couldn’t convert; and then got dropped),” Arundhati laughs, recalling how her prediction eventually came true.
In fact, Arundhati Reddy’s story is a reminder that it’s not always about being on the team sheet or taking the field. Sometimes, it’s about the spirit you bring, the belief you carry, and the words you speak that lift others up.
(Quotes sourced from Cricbuzz)
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