'Shree Charani, Kranti Goud are perfect examples' - Amol Muzumdar credits WPL and pay parity after India's World Cup triumph

India’s historic ICC Women’s World Cup triumph stands as a defining moment for women’s cricket, built on belief, resilience, and a powerful team culture. 

Indian Women's Team Head Coach Amol Muzumdar reflected on the journey behind the victory, the legacy of the players who paved the way, and how the WPL has transformed the depth and confidence of the team. 

The India coach acknowledged the contributions of Jhulan Goswami, Mithali Raj, Anjum Chopra and Reema Malhotra, crediting the stars from yesteryears for undergoing the silent grind and paving a path for the future generations. 

"I truly enjoyed watching Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and all our players take the trophy around the boundary to their seniors who helped build women's cricket. We must respect our history to secure our future. Full credit goes to pioneers like Jhulan Goswami, Mithali Raj, Anjum Chopra, Reema Malhotra and all the seniors from their era, hats off to them for laying the foundation for this success in the Women's World Cup," Muzumdar said while speaking on JioStar's special show ‘Celebrating Champions'.

He also shared his views on BCCI's transformative role, highlighting the apex body's consistent and dedicated efforts such as introduction of the Women's Premier League and implementation of pay parity to elevate the standard and quality of women's cricket in the country.

"The BCCI's work for women's cricket in the last three years has been phenomenal. While they took over in 2006, the recent changes have been revolutionary. We've had three WPL editions that uncovered tremendous talent for us to develop. The pay parity introduced in 2022 was another landmark decision. Credit to BCCI for these wonderful initiatives that are now showing results in our World Cup victory."

Muzumdar also highlighted the crucial turning point in India's World Cup campaign, which had briefly derailed after a hat-trick of losses in group stage of the tournament. Muzumdar revealed that he had a "blunt conversation" with the team over their inability to close the games.

"After three consecutive losses against Australia, South Africa and England in the group stage, we had a very honest team meeting. I felt we needed a blunt conversation where no barriers existed, and I'm glad the players responded positively. Though the scoreboard showed losses to South Africa, Australia, and England, we knew internally that we were playing well but failing to finish games. That realisation became our turning point in the tournament."

He also open up on the strategic decision to keep the team grounded after their emotional semi-final victory versus Australia.

"All our hard work over the past two years wasn't just for winning the semi-final against Australia on October 30^th, it was meant for playing in the final of the world cup on November 2nd, 2025. If we had stayed in that euphoria after beating Australia, we might not have reached our ultimate goal. I wanted the team to leave that celebration behind and stay focused on the present moment. That approach made November 2nd truly special when we finally achieved our dream of lifting the Women's World Cup trophy."

The India coach highlighted the the impact the WPL has had in the development of players, ffurther expressing confidence on India's ability to dominate world cricket with even more emergence of talents through the WPL.

"Shree Charani and Kranti Goud are perfect examples of WPL's success. We identified them during the February tournament, and by May they were playing international cricket. This shows how WPL accelerates player development. In the next four-five years, we'll see many more talented women cricketers emerging through WPL and domestic tournaments, strengthening Indian cricket tremendously."

Speaking on his own journey as the head coach of the Indian Women's Cricket Team, Muzumdar said:

"I first visited the National Cricket Academy in November 2023 and met the Indian team for the first time. From that day, our journey began with one clear goal; to become the world's best team. We made some necessary changes in the support staff, team composition, and most importantly, in our mindset. All these efforts have now culminated in this World Cup victory. It has been absolutely magical working with these talented players, and I couldn't have asked for a better group of players and human beings."