'He Hates Women's Cricket...': Ex-BCCI President's Old Comment Post Harmanpreet Kaur-led Team's WC Triumph Goes Viral

India Wins World Cup: It was a moment to savour for the country as the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side lifted India's first Women's World Cup on Sunday in a historic final in front of a packed crowd in Navi Mumbai. The side had to encounter immense criticism after they lost a couple of group stage matches before qualifying for the semis. However, they kept all that behind them to clinch knockout matches against the mighty Australians and South Africa to claim the cup.

Amidst all the euphoria from the win, an old comment from former BCCI President N. Srinivasan has been doing the rounds on social media. The comment was allegedly made in response to former India captain Diana Edulji when she went to congratulate Srinivasan for becoming the BCCI President. Edulji also claimed that Srinivasan would “never let women’s cricket grow in India.”

Edulji recalled this comment at an event after Harmanpreet's stunning 171 against Australia in the semifinal of the Women’s World Cup.

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She said, “When Mr. Srinivasan became president, I went to congratulate him at the Wankhede Stadium. He said, ‘If I had my way, I wouldn’t let women’s cricket happen.’ He hates women’s cricket.”

"I’ve always been a BCCI basher, right from the day women’s cricket came under the BCCI fold in 2006. BCCI is a very male-chauvinist organisation. They never wanted women to dictate terms or get into this space. I was very vocal right from my playing days,” she had said.

India defeated South Africa by 52 runs on the back of all-round performances from Deepti Sharma and Shafali Verma.

Harmanpreet, who was addressing the media post-win, addressed the criticism around her team in a subtle manner.

"I think criticism is also a part of life. It’s not necessary that everything should be good," she told reporters.

"Criticism is one of the main things in life because it brings balance. Otherwise, if everything goes well, you’ll be overconfident. I don’t blame those who criticize, because we know when we aren’t doing something right.

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"I don’t have much to say, but I like to keep both things balanced. When good things happen, I don’t go too high; when bad things happen, I don’t dig deep.

"For me, the most important thing is to stay balanced, and I try to send the same message to my teammates. When everything is going well — it’s okay, well done, but now we have to maintain it. And even when things aren’t going well, we try to keep everyone together so that we can lift that person up."