Harmanpreet Kaur knows how it feels to come close to glory and then suffer the pain of watching the magic moment slip from your grip. That is the reason why her ecstasy knew no bounds after Mumbai Indians beat Delhi Capitals in the inaugural Women’s Premier League final at the Brabourne Stadium on Sunday.

Once the winning runs were hit, Harmanpreet darted off to the centre of the ground from the dugout to celebrate the triumph. At the media conference later, she put words to her emotions.

“I was waiting for such a moment for a long time… when as a captain I can win something which is so important for women’s cricket,” Harmanpreet said. “I want to keep doing this in future also. I was waiting for a long time to win a tournament on a good platform. Whatever I have learnt from this tournament, I want to share the experience with my Indian teammates,” she added.

As the India captain, Harmanpreet saw Australia snatch away the match in the Commonwealth Games final and the semi-final ofthe Women’s T20 World Cup. But this time, even though Australia captain Meg Lanning was leading the Delhi Capitals, Harmanpreet did not blink.

“We’ve seen Lanning do well for her country for so many years, but it was different here. For me, it was important to get everyone together and make them understand why they are here and what they can do best for the team.”

The India captain in her was also pleased to see Radha Yadav and Shikha Pandey get runs as tailenders in the final, even though they were in the opposition camp. After the Capitals were reduced to 79/9, Radha and Shikha added 52 runs for the last wicket.

“I was actually very happy the way they were batting. Even after the match I spoke to Radha and said, ‘I want to see the same batting when you join the Indian team’.”