'Keep giving us love like you've given right now'- Harmanpreet's message to India

Harmanpreet Kaur played a belligerent knock of 171 runs off 115 balls in the semifinal against Australia to lead India to the final of the ICC Women's World Cup after a gap of 12 years. That made her the darling of the masses overnight. Although India failed to win the summit clash against England, women’s cricketers earned a lot of plaudits from the fans back home that excited Harmanpreet and she urged the fans to keep the love flowing.

"We have heard on social media that the country has woken up to women's cricket. The message to India is that keep giving us love like you've given right now. Motivate the girls of India to play cricket because currently, we are not seeing enough young girls playing cricket," Harmanpreet told NDTV.

In a fiercely contested final for the most parts of the game, India were within reach of the Cup. But from 191 for 3, India endured a complete collapse in the face of pressure as they lost the last seven wickets for 28 runs that took the game away from the Asian nation. The eves were in tears after letting the game slip from their fingers, but the Punjab girl revealed that they celebrated the journey after reaching the hotel.

"We were all crying after the match. Even those assisting our team were crying. We all contributed with some speeches and messages," the Indian vice-captain said.

"But then our support staff said nobody will cry when we reach the hotel. We then celebrated by eating dinner together. I'm really proud of my team because this has been my best moment and this is the best cricket we have played. Now, it's like we lost enough, now we just want to keep winning.

"Which city you are from doesn't matter, what matters is what your thinking is. A dream has come true, a dream to play good cricket. Proud that we have made our country's flag fly high," she concluded.