Performing under pressure isn’t an easy job. But Team India put up an excellent show last night (July 23) against England at the Lord's cricket ground when they were left just nine runs short of winning their first Women's World Cup title.

The entire nation was praying that the women in blue bring the trophy home for the first time ever, but Mithali Raj and team were just an inch away from being the champion. With their exemplary performance in the tournament, Indian women cricketers have finally managed to grab eyeballs and are now being looked up to as the country's new cricket heroes.

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According to Raj, this is the time to “create the base” of an Indian Premier League dedicated to women players. She has demanded a tournament along the lines of the IPL for male cricketers.

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Sunday’s final at Lord’s ground is now being compared to the match in 1983 when India’s men had won the World Cup title.

"Yes, I'm proud of the team. It wasn't easy for England but credit to them for keeping their nerves. There was a time where the match was in the balance, but we panicked and that led to our defeat," Raj said matter-of-factly after the match.

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34-year-old Raj also announced that this is her last World Cup appearance. She also rued that the Indian women could have emerged champion in the World Cup final if they had tournaments to match Australia’s Twenty20 Women’s Big Bash League or England’s equivalent Super League. We couldn’t agree more!

“Everybody was very nervous and I think that resulted in our defeat,” Raj told reporters.

"I'm very proud of the girls. They didn't make any match look easy for the other team. We did very well in the tournament. All the youngsters in the team tried their best," she added.

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Yes, we can’t ignore the fact that England’s women have been training hard for more than two years now, while the Indian women have just started to build a solid ground for the future.

So here's hoping that Team India will now train harder and go from good to outstanding. Wishing them all the best!

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