A special win deserves a special celebration, and India women’s cricket team head coach Amol Muzumdar turned to batting superstar Rohit Sharma for inspiration when he planted the Indian tricolour on the turf
of DY Patil Stadium following his team’s title triumph at the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025.
Rohit had famously planted the Indian flag on the turf of Kensington Oval in Barbados after captaining his team to a thrilling last-over win over South Africa in the final of the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup last year.
Coincidentally, India defeated South Africa in the title clash of the Women’s one-day World Cup to win their maiden global trophy, and coach Muzumdar marked the occasion by emulating Rohit.
Watch Muzumdar’s memorable celebration below:
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Led by Harmanpreet Kaur, the Indian women’s team ended their wait for a first-ever ICC trophy in style when they defeated a strong South African team by 52 runs in the final held on Sunday.
One of the domestic doyens of the 1990s, Muzumdar, a domestic giant, cruelly missed out on playing international cricket despite his pedigree, only because India’s batting order was stacked with the likes of Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, and Sourav Ganguly.
While he might still be carrying the pain of not being able to don the India jersey, Sunday’s achievement puts him in a rare category of India coaches to have won a World Cup.
“It has not sunk in yet, but probably as the days go by, it will sink in. But it’s a surreal feeling,” Muzumdar responded when asked about his reaction to winning the tournament.
“After the catch (that Harmanpreet took to dismiss final batter Nadine de Klerk), I don’t know what happened. The next five minutes were a blur. I was here only (in the dugout). I was looking up in the dugout. I was looking up. I didn’t know what (had) happened,” he added.
Only three India coaches, including Gary Kirsten, Rahul Dravid, and now Amol Muzumdar, have won a World Cup.
In 1983, India didn’t have any national coach, while MS Dhoni’s 2007 team had Lalchand Rajput as a stop-gap cricket manager.
“Two years have been incredible with this team. They’re all together all the time. We back each other. You’ll see, nobody leaves anyone’s back and it’s been fantastic to work with such a talented group of players,” Muzumdar said when asked about his two-year stint with the Indian side.
