‘Graph of women’s cricket has gone up’

Not winning an ODI World Cup will be her ldquoonly regretrdquo in an otherwise distinguished twodecade career Indiarsquos fast bowling great Jhulan Goswami said on Friday as she gears up for her final international gameGoswami will retire after the third ODI against England at the iconic Lordrsquos on SaturdayAn emotional Goswami said she is grateful to the game for giving her name and fame but not having a World Cup trophy in her cabinet will remain an unticked boxThe Indian team had finished secondbest during the 2005 and 2017 editions of 50over World Cup ldquoI have played two World Cup finals if we had won at least one then it would have been very nice for me and the team Every individual works for that goal We played twothree finals but we were not able to win that remains my only regretrdquo the 39yearold pacer said ahead of the third and final clashAlso Read Dholakiarsquos double gives Ambani titlelsquoDreamcometrue momentrsquoldquoYou prepare for a World Cup for four years There is a lot of hardwork For every cricketer it is a dreamcometrue moment to win a World Cup But from where I am looking the graph of womenrsquos cricket has only gone up When I started I never thought of playing for such a long time It was a great experience I am fortunate to play the sportldquoHonestly coming from a humble background and a small town like Chakdah in West Bengalrsquos Nadia district I did not have any idea about womenrsquos cricket and how professional setup works I am fortunate enough thanks to my family and parents they always supported merdquo she saidGoswami said receiving the India cap was the most memorable moment of her cricketing journey ldquoMy best memory is when I got the India cap from my captain and bowled the first over because I never imagined that I will play for India The journey was difficult as I had to travel for twoandhalf hours by local train one way every day for trainingrdquoBack in 1997She recollected how the 1997 Womenrsquos World Cup final between Australia and New Zealand at the Eden Gardens watched by close to 90000 people ldquoIn 1997 I was a ball girl at the Eden Gardens where I saw my first womenrsquos World Cup final between Australia and New Zealand From that day my dream was to represent Indiardquo she saidWith India taking an unassailable 20 lead in the series Goswami now just wants to end her illustrious career on a high note ldquoIt is very much important to finish the tour on a high note and continue the way we have been playing in the last two matchesrdquo203No of ODI matches Jhulan Goswami has played353No of international wickets claimed by GoswamiThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever