A t the midnight hour on a magical Sunday, Harmanpreet Kaur and her incredible women made their tryst with destiny. India was finally crowned world champions in women’s cricket. It was a journey marked by a long history of angst and joy, shaped by the sweat and dreams of pioneers such as Shantha Rangaswamy, Diana Edulji, Mithali Raj, and Jhulan Goswami. In a high-stakes final befitting an ICC World Cup, India prevailed over South Africa by 52 runs at Navi Mumbai’s D.Y. Patil Stadium, which turned into a teeming mass of raucous energy. This moment is as epochal as it was for Kapil Dev and his men in 1983 when they seized the World Cup at Lord’s. That caused a seismic shift in the way cricket was perceived and administered and paved the way for India to become a commercial behemoth. A s

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