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"Some who tried to...": Gavaskar draws line between 1983 and 2025 World Cup triumphs

Arunima Purohit

Sunil Gavaskar [Source: @WorshipDhoni/X]Sunil Gavaskar [Source: @WorshipDhoni/X]

The Indian women's cricket team created history on November 2 at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai after beating South Africa by 52 runs to lift their first-ever ICC Women’s World Cup Trophy.

After suffering heartbreaks in 2005 and 2017 by getting defeated in the World Cup finals, the women’s team finally fulfilled every Indian cricket fan’s wish to see them win the coveted trophy. Many fans even compared this win to the legendary World Cup wins by the Indian men’s cricket team in 1983 and 2011, respectively.

Sunil Gavaskar believes the two World Cup victories are different

India lifted their first-ever World Cup title in 1983 when former legend Kapil Dev’s side defied all odds to win the final by beating the dangerous West Indies side. So many paralleled this win with the Women’s team victory, but former India legend, Sunil Gavaskar, doesn’t believe that these victories should be on an even levels.

"There were some who tried to compare this win with the men’s team winning the World Cup in 1983. The men had never progressed beyond the group stage in earlier editions, and so everything from the knockout stage onward was new to them, while the women already had a better record, having been in two finals before this magnificent triumph." Gavaskar wrote in his column for The Sportstar.

Sunil Gavaskar heaps praise on the Indian women’s team

However, Gavaskar didn't shy away from praising the Women’s team's efforts and also believes that on-field strategies and skills helped the team win. He also mentioned how important the coach’s role is in such victories, who brings the best out of the players, and we’ve all seen how much effort Indian women’s team coach Amul Muzumdar put into bringing these kinds of results.

"The win once again emphasised, if ever it was needed, that sporting intelligence wins trophies, not fancy degrees from universities. It also proves that it will invariably be Indian coaches who get the best results since they know the players – their strengths, weaknesses, and temperament – and understand the nuances of Indian cricket better than any foreigner, however accomplished he or she may be," Gavaskar wrote.

It took the Indian women’s team nearly 52 years to win the first-ever World Cup title. However, given the kind of performances they’ve shown in the past few years, it’s safe to say that this tally is likely to grow further.