Amol Muzumdar reveals "seven hours without noise" speech before World Cup finals was "impromptu"

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], November 8 (ANI): India's Women's World Cup-winning head coach and former domestic cricket stalwart Amol Muzumdar has said that his "seven hours without noise" speech to the huddle was an "impromptu". He also spoke about his most cherished match of the tournament.

Muzumdar, who led India to their maiden Women's World Cup glory as a head coach, spoke about his now-viral "seven hours" speech in an interview to BCCI. The speech drew comparisons to legendary Shah Rukh Khan's "Sattar minute" (70 minutes) speech to the Indian women's hockey team before the finals of the Women's Hockey World Cup, while playing the role of coach Kabir Khan in his critically acclaimed film 'Chak de India'.

In his speech, Muzumdar had said, "Seven hours we cut out all the noise. We cut them out of our lives; we create our own bubble here. Seven hours create our own bubble, and we step into it, and we finish that, and we write our own story, no more stories from the outside. We write our own story. You will write your own story. Let's stay in that bubble for the next seven hours. Let's create history."

Muzumdar said that he is not about "dramatics" and what he said was heartfelt. He also said that until the semifinals, he knew exactly what he had to say to the team in the huddle talk, but during the final, this speech came to him naturally as something he really wanted to speak.

"I am not about dramatics. So I am far away from that. What comes out is very honest, and I speak from my heart. I do not know where the parallels (with SRK's Chak de India speech) have come from. However, I have seen that I use my phone. So I see those things, you know, coming through," he said.

"Look, if there are parallels, there are parallels. I cannot help it. Yes, regarding the motivational speeches, until the semifinal one, I always knew what I was going to say in the huddle. I always knew that I would speak this to the players so that they get charged up, so that they set the tone right, right at the start of the huddle. And that's where everything, the energy flows from the huddle. I always knew it."

"But in the finals, about that seven hours thing, it was an absolute impromptu one. I didn't know what I was going to speak about, and that time I just tapped on my own shoulder and said, I'm going to speak about what you feel like over there. And went into the huddle and that thing came up," he concluded.

He recalled that after three losses to South Africa, Australia and England, the team was on a "knife's edge" against New Zealand in a must-win clash and how a partnership between centurions Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal took India to a match-winning 340/3, making it the most "cherished" match of the tournament.

"The day we turned up for the New Zealand game, it was a do-or-die situation. You win the game, and you advance to the semifinals. You lose the game, you're out of the World Cup. And there will be some brick bats after that. So it was on the knife's edge," he said.

"And when we entered the ground and when the partnership started to happen, blossom between Pratika and Smriti Mandana, that is a time when I felt we were in control of this. And I will remember that particular day, that particular game against New Zealand, as one of the most cherished one in this tournament," he added.

Speaking about the World Cup win, Muzumdar said that winning the title was a dream, but that dream cannot end with the World Cup win, and it will continue.

"It was always a dream to, you know, to win the World Cup or to become the best in the world. And it still is a dream. You know, that dream cannot just end with the World Cup. It has to continue. That journey has to continue. There was one dream of winning the 50-over World Cup. There it is. But at the same time, the journey continues," he concluded.

In the title clash against South Africa, half-centuries from Shafali Verma (87) and Deepti Sharma (58) took India to 298/7 in 50 overs. South Africa were in the hunt with skipper Laura Wolvaardt (101) in sublime touch, but game-changing spells from Shafali (2/36) and Deepti Sharma (5/39) won Indian women cricketers their maiden World Cup title with a 52-run win over the Proteas. (ANI)

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