Udaipur, Nov 4, 2025 – For the next seven hours, we cut out all the noise, we cut them out of our lives… for the next seven hours, we create our own bubble here and we step into it and we finish that…. And we write our own story, no more stories from the outside. You will write your own story tonight…let us create history.

This is how the head coach inspired his girls in the huddle just before they walked out onto the field to claim what was rightly theirs….the 2025 Women's World Cup trophy!

Sunday, November 2, 2025, will always be remembered as a watershed day in Indian cricket. On this day, our Women in Blue showed the world what grit, belief and plucky cricket look like. With every boundary struck and each wicket claimed, they carried the dreams of a billion hearts… and made one man the happiest in the world! The team’s head coach Amol Muzumdar who stood on the side-lines watching his girls lift the trophy…with tears in his eyes!

"After the catch, I don't know what happened. The next five minutes was 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 said after the game.

This World Cup triumph is perhaps poetic redemption for Muzumdar who, despite an illustrious career in domestic cricket - scoring 11,167 first-class runs at an average of 48.13 - never got to make his international debut. A Mumbai cricket stalwart, Muzumdar missed out on getting his Test cap probably because he was born in the wrong era… an era which was dominated by the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Saurav Ganguly. With such stalwarts in line for selection to the national side, the Indian middle order had no room for a man with India A hundreds, a Ranji Trophy record and consistent 1,000-run seasons.

On his debut in 1993-94 at the age of 19, Muzumdar hit a world-record 260 not out for his Ranji Trophy team Mumbai against Haryana. This record he held for nearly 25 years. He then went on to become a key man for Mumbai cricket over the next two decades, often carrying his team through crises.

Ending an illustrious career of 21 years, Muzumdar retired from active cricket in 2014 but did not move away from the game. He took on the role of a mentor for India's U-19 and U-23 teams, worked as a batting coach with Rajasthan Royals in the IPL (2018-2020), and served as interim coach for South Africa's 2018 tour of India.

And then, in 2023, came the job of head coach for the national women team, a responsibility he embraced with equal dedication. And in two years, he helped the team bring home the trophy which had been eluding the country for almost two decades. 

Muzumdar may never have experienced the highs of playing for India internationally but when the winning and ecstatic Harmanpreet Kaur hugged his feet in a show of respect and gratitude and embraced him emotionally, his life came full circle. And he completed an emotional journey from domestic legend to World Cup-winning mentor.

"It has not sunk in yet but probably as the days go by, it will sink in. But it’s a surreal feeling,” he said about the victory.

Today, Muzumdar has joined the league of two stalwarts - Gary Kirsten and Rahul Dravid - as a Wold Cup winning head coach. Someone who has guided his team to a victory which has put it out there for all to see - that the future of Indian women cricket is bright, fierce and unstoppable.

“It’s a watershed moment,” says the head coach, “The ripple effects will be felt for generations”.